Dancin’ off the streets

Bryce Chambers dances with Violet Distruction in the Cleveland Kings and Girls at Dancin’ in the Streets. They are indoors after rain fell on the August 21 festival.

The AIDS fundraiser’s 26th anniversary continued the previous year’s commitment to keep prices low, striking back against cuts in Ohio AIDS Drug Assistance Program funding.

The event was again held on Clifton Blvd. between 116th and 117th, but this year saw another kind of move. The traditionally Sunday-afternoon festivities were held on Saturday night.

“I think it was a great idea,” said Chambers, noting that the party could only go so late on Sunday before people realized they had to wake up for work the next morning.

“I think Saturday night was a much better strategic plan,” he continued.

While partygoers thought it was a great idea, the weather was of a different mind altogether, brushing the dance party off of the street and into Twist night club.

“John [Katsaros] opened the bar for us to perform, which was nice of him,” Chambers said. “We had a decent turnout despite the weather, but we were hoping for more.”

Dancin’ in the Streets was started in 1985 as a block party on West 9th Street in the Warehouse District, a fundraiser for AIDS services. Over the years it expanded and became an AIDS Taskforce event, eventually winding up at the Tower City Amphitheater and Nautica Pavilion in its last two years before the AIDS Taskforce stepped away from organizing it after the 2006 event.

The price of constantly making it bigger while having flat or even shrinking attendance figures took its toll, and the AIDS Taskforce staff was putting in increasing hours for diminishing returns.

The community, however, would not let Dancin’ die, and a group of volunteers including Gregg Witbeck, John Katsaros and others got together to put the event on themselves, bringing it back to the streets.

This year, Vision Video Productions took over the event, and coming out of their first time, they hinted at plans for next year, promising an announcement in the coming weeks.

--Anthony Glassman