A familiar pop chorus, a roomful of raised hands and a dance floor that feels welcoming: that’s the idea behind Danserette, the Amsterdam LGBTQ+ party marking its twentieth anniversary. Organiser Ronald Remmelzwaan began it because existing venues didn’t quite offer the right mix of space, sound and singalong songs. Now its celebration brings that distinctive pink touch back to the city.

Essential Takeaways

  • A party born from a gap: Ronald Remmelzwaan started Danserette in 2006, looking for a place to dance to LGBTQ+-friendly pop hits.
  • A song needs the right feeling: The test is less about genre than whether a track feels uplifting and invites people to sing along.
  • The anniversary is on the calendar: Paradiso lists the twentieth-anniversary party for 18 July 2026 at Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam Noord.
  • The format stays simple: Remmelzwaan prefers a DJ and background videos to elaborate staging.
  • A long-running connection: Danserette has appeared at Paradiso several times, including its tenth-anniversary celebration in 2016.

The right song can transform a dance floor

When Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” comes on, Danserette organiser Ronald Remmelzwaan says, the crowd goes wild. It’s a neat snapshot of what his Amsterdam party is about: familiar pop with a celebratory, LGBTQ+-friendly feel, and enough of a chorus to make standing still seem a poor option.

The Parool’s profile traces Danserette back to 2006, when Remmelzwaan saw a gap in Amsterdam nightlife. Some bars played the right songs but felt too cramped for dancing; elsewhere, there was room to move, but the music was hard to hear.

A “pink touch” is about feeling, not a formula

Remmelzwaan’s answer was Danserette, a dance party built around the songs its audience knows and loves. He later added Gay80s90s, bringing the same idea to music from the eighties and nineties.

There’s no rigid recipe for what gives a song its “pink touch”. In The Parool’s account, Remmelzwaan describes it as a feeling: a track should be happy enough to lift hands into the air or inspire a bit of lip-syncing. Cher’s “Believe” fits; Madonna is a much-loved icon, while Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” is one of those songs that reliably sets the room alight.

Paradiso’s listings give the idea a playlist-shaped outline, naming artists from Madonna, Kylie and Whitney Houston to George Michael, Rihanna and contemporary pop performers. It’s less a musical rulebook than an invitation to recognise the song and join in.

Twenty years on, the dance party still feels familiar

Danserette has moved between Amsterdam venues over the years, including Akhnaton, Odeon, Hotel Arena, Desmet and Tolhuistuin. Paradiso says it has hosted the party eight times, while an archived listing records the tenth-anniversary celebration there in 2016.

The next milestone is scheduled for 18 July 2026 at Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam Noord. Paradiso presents it as a large celebration ahead of WorldPride, with music spanning the eighties through to contemporary pop. The listing says the event is for people aged 18 and over, with doors running from 22:00 until 04:00.

Simple staging, big memories

For all the sparkle of a packed dance floor, Remmelzwaan isn’t keen on piling on theatrical extras. He prefers a DJ and videos in the background, rather than an elaborate stage show. That simplicity suits a party whose main event is the music and the people responding to it.

One exception was Danserette’s own boat in Amsterdam’s 2012 Canal Parade. The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision’s archive describes that year’s procession as a lively, music-filled celebration on the canals. Remmelzwaan’s story has an especially personal detail: he proposed to his husband on the boat, in front of the Homomonument, with thousands of people watching.

Familiar hits make room for connection

Danserette draws younger guests as well as people who don’t go out as often, Remmelzwaan told The Parool. For some, the appeal is straightforward: a night to dance with friends to songs they already know, without needing to keep up with whatever is newest.

That sense of welcome sits within a longer history of queer nightlife in Amsterdam. IHLIA’s With Pride project describes a diverse club and dance scene shaped by LGBTQ+ communities and initiatives. Danserette’s own approach is specific and cheerfully uncomplicated: choose the right song, give people room to dance, and let the chorus do the rest.

A great dance night doesn’t need a complicated formula; sometimes it just needs the right song.

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