To question the theory of what “normal” looks like, students gathered on the Plaza of the Americas to do something most students enjoy: dancing.
About 40 UF students and Gainesville residents participated in the Queer Sadie Hawkins Dance on Thursday afternoon, put on by OwnUp, a developing LGBTQ-straight alliance student organization.
Students danced in front of the “Whispering Close” statue, which displays a heterosexual couple dancing.
The goal was not to protest the statue, said OwnUp Co-Founder Eleni Angelopoulos. It was to raise awareness about heteronormativity, a cultural bias that portrays heterosexuality as normal and homosexuality as abnormal.
“There’s no representation of homosexual couples on campus,” she said, gesturing to the sculpture.
OwnUp aims to start a conversation about LGBTQ community representation at UF, Angelopoulos said. “We’re bringing awareness to ask questions so people know what heteronormativity is, act now and make an all-inclusive campus,” she said.
The crowd started moving as a remix of Florence and the Machine’s “Shake It Out” blared from a stereo. People danced with their dates, whom they asked on the Facebook event’s wall, and a nearby display board asked, “What is normal?”
Participants wrote answers to the question: “An evolution in societal thinking.” “Queer sex.” “Love.”
OwnUp co-founder and English junior Patrick Runfeldt, 20, emphasized the dance was an image event, which aims to “get people looking” and to communicate the motive.
Students walking by stopped to see what was going on, took pictures with their phones and even joined in the dancing. Brittany Bruce, another OwnUp founding member, said she was excited to see students taking notice.
“Hopefully, it gets on Facebook or Instagram and goes viral,” the 22-year-old business senior said.
After the music stopped, people talked, hugged and took pictures. Angelopoulos smiled and fanned herself despite the damp cold that clung to campus.
“The point of this event was to start discussion,” the 21-year-old English senior said, “and I think we’re doing that right now.”
Contact Kathryn Varn at kvarn@alligator.org.
Students dance next to the “Whispering Close” statue on Plaza of the Americas as part of the Queer Sadie Hawkins Dance on Wednesday afternoon. The dance was meant to spur discussion about heteronormativity.
