UK dance shoe company backs same-sex ballroom dancing

When you think of ballroom dancing you think of sparkles and glitterballs, and you also probably envisage a man twirling his female partner around the dance floor.

Now, a world famous dance shoe company has decided to change the traditional image of ballroom dancing. It’s time, they say, for Fred and Ginger to step aside to allow Fred and Fred to take to the dance floor.

Freed of London, one of the world’s leading specialists in dance footwear, has announced it’ll be using the image of two men tangoing the night away in a new campaign for their range of dance shoes.

“We are a traditional company, with a lot of history. We see dance moving forward and regenerating to capture modern lives and passions,” Freed of London said in a statement.

“It is a privilege to be able to develop with this ever changing industry and to promote same-sex dancing to a worldwide audience, celebrating its equality and diversity. Freed of London want all dancers to have the freedom to show and express their creativity.”

The company’s decision to promote same-sex dancing follows attempts by some British dance officials last year to ban same-sex dancing partners from competing against traditional couples. Their discriminatory plans made headlines all around the globe, but they were, thankfully, unsuccessful.

The two men chosen to appear in the campaign are none other than professional ballroom dancers Stuart Hatton Jr, (who is also Mr Gay World 2014 and the reigning Mr Gay UK), and Strictly Come Dancing dancer, Callum MacDonald.

In preparation for the shoot, they were invited to the Freed of London headquarters for a guided tour and shown how their shoes for the shoot will be made.

“As a lifelong ballroom dancer, I am thrilled that such a major supplier of dancewear has decided to break the mould and support the same-sex dancing world with this venture,” said Hatton Jr.

” And who knows, maybe we are not that far away from the BBC putting the first ever same-sex dancers on their flagship show, Strictly Come Dancing.”

MacDonald added: “Same-sex Latin and ballroom dancing is creative and it challenges traditional ideas, which I think is important. It brings homosexuality more so into the norm and that is a great thing – because that’s exactly what it is.”

The Freed of London same-sex dancing campaign is set to be launched in the coming weeks.