Katie and their dance partner doing an improvised Lindy Hop 
performance at ‘Winter Jump’ in Oslo 2025.

K

Katie Cobalt is a talented career lindy hop and swing dancer, they also travel worldwide teaching it. Katie is recognizable in Portsmouth’s local Queer scene as drag artist Azure Thang, do you get the joke? “Hey I’m Azure Thang, and I'm your sure thing”.

The performance communities are largely still a cis heteronormative space. The dancing community still retains traditional gender structures in what is considered feminine contra masculine. Katie says it can be a difficult environment for someone like themselves, who is from Hong Kong belonging to an ethnically diverse group and also being Queer. Especially highlighting that they are met with presumptions based on appearance, meaning it can become very frustrating. But also reflecting on the effects of performing in such spaces, what does it mean to fully feel a sense of safety to embrace and express this identity? “It used to be in my day-to-day life performing femininity felt uncomfortable…but I am really good at performing femininity as Azure”. 

The worldwide pandemic marked a new beginning. Katie decided to completely embrace their Queer identity in all aspects of life. A shift, igniting a transformational knock on effect in their professional dance career, embodying this new branded identity as a ‘Queer dancer’. With this moment followed a wave of positive impact on mental health. “The more I play with gender in that space, the less I am anxious about it in my day to day life” they said.