The moment I knew: It felt like the end of the world – then he smiled at me on the dancefloor

From seeing him on stage to locking eyes at a lounge room disco, comedian Tom Ballard only had eyes for Harley, a handsome circus acrobat I met Harley at the Adelaide Fringe festival in 2020. We were sharing a venue in the Garden of Unearthly Delights; I was doing my standup show, he was performing in a group circus show. I was all set to move to the UK later that year to become a West End star (or something), so I wasn’t looking for a relationship. One night I sat in on the circus show and, ...

By As told to James Norman