Angelo Berbotto
General Secretary

Introduction

I am Angelo, 35 years old, a trained translator/interpreter and a lawyer. I was born in Uruguay and live in London. I started dancing in 2005 and have not stopped since. I started competing in 2007 in category D (the lowest level in social dancing) and have been slowly improving both in Ballroom and Latin.
When I am not dancing or working, I enjoy reading, cycling, the gym, going to the cinema/theatre and enjoying life in London. I am also involved in NELFA (the Network of European LGBT Families Associations) which works/lobbies for the rights of children raised in Rainbow Families in those European countries which do not yet recognise the rights of families where the parents are of the same gender.

Achievements

I am a “sort of activist” and I have had the chance to use my skills in the world of same-sex dancing. In 2007 I relocated temporarily to Rome and, together with my friend Nicola Di Pietro, we created BallorOmO, the first same-sex dancing association in Italy: http://balloromo.blogspot.com/

Upon my return to London, I have been interested in raising the profile of same-sex dancing. In October 2008 I created the same-sex dancing blog: http://samesexdancing.blog.co.uk/ it includes news about social dancing events, reports on competitions, dance profiles and bio and any other news of interest to the same-sex dancing community in London and beyond. The blog has become very popular and for this I was awarded the Peter Ryan Award in 2009 (an annual UK award in recognition of an individual’s contribution and services rendered to the same-sex dancing community).

Vision

• Dancing is a lot of fun and through dancing I have made lots of friends and met interesting people. My aim is to share the world of same-sex dancing with as many people in the LGBT community as possible.

• My language skills and experience will hopefully allow me to work with ESSDA in strengthening links with the “Latin countries” where same-sex dancing is slowly developing.

• As an adult dancer, I am committed to the social dancing levels (D and C) and to encourage social dancers to give competitive dancing a try.

• I enjoy writing and networking and I hope to put these skills to good use in raising the profile of ESSDA within the LGBT community and within the dancing community at large.

email: angelo(at)essda.eu

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last update: 15.08.2010