Divas

At my request to see the gay bar in town, half of my class piped up in interest to visit Divas on Saturday night. Excited to go, Tessa even came down from Prince Albert to join us for the night. Unfortunately my class is all talk and no action as there were four of us and a significant other come out for some drinks.

We arrived early on the premise that we would get to know each other a bit before the bar became hopping. There was more to our night than drinking and dancing, I was there to study the space and I had great access to the bar without all of the bodies as filler. The interior of Divas is very nice with a slightly too small dance floor beside the bar, very reminiscent of the GLCR in Regina. Upstairs is nice bar seating area that overlooks the dance floor, creating a voyeuristic view of the drunken dancers that bordered on creepy, which I only realized on Sunday while watching a poor drunk girl being held up by a dancing man preying on her. The bathrooms were found at one end of the second floor and a nice quiet nook with good couches and a pool table at the other, the space being about equal to the area in Regina’s GLCR.





The whole space was an even mixture of both genders and the vibe did not feel intimidating masculine like some straight clubs do. Drag attire was prevalent and created a non judgmental queer environment that felt inclusive of all the identities. Tips were rampant for the Queens during the show and the fluid genders in the space eliminated the binary that exists in hetero bars. Sexuality was oozing as in any bar and surprisingly, from my watching perch on the second floor, there were more heterosexual pairings on the dance floor despite a more visually homosexual crowd though I suppose it is not uncommon for drag shows to attract hetero couples.

The exterior of the bar is an exclusive hidden entrance in the alley by Art Placement and does feel dominantly masculine and heterosexual. While beautifully urban, the space drew me to carry my keys woven through my fingers unless I was with a large group. My feminine instinct of self defence went into gear almost immediately from the possibilities in the dark alleyway. Not only was I consciously preparing myself against any encounters in the space, I was subconsciously bracing myself against the power shift that occurred when my feminine identity entered the space. While almost safe and comfortable while occupied by a community of smokers at the height of the night, the space insisted its power over me in my individuality.



I have heard mixed opinions of excitement over the secrecy of an alley entrance to tentative disappointment of having to use a secret entrance. Does this allow for secret entrance to the bar or does it restrict the gay lifestyle from public view? Is the back alley entrance dangerous because of dark closed in space or is it safer because it helps keep queer identity anonymous? Personally I am embarrassed to use a back alley as if homosexuals need to be hidden from view and they agree that secrecy is preferable.