Recommenations of (Semi-)Underground Dancing/Music/Cultural Venues

For those of us seeking alternatives to the traditional clubs, or even to what I like to call the “dance-bars” (those places without an actual so-called cabaret license, which is the license to permit dancing in private spaces; you can read about it here), there are many semi-unknown, not very largely publicized venues in the city to be found for a night of bustin’ a move and/or catching upcoming artists, musicians and DJ’s.

Spiegeltent, located in the South Street Seaport, is one such venue. Only up until November 2nd, the place hosts evenings of salsa, AfroBrazilian and other music and dance parties. Spiegeltent hosts parties from Wednesday night to Sunday afternoons. If you are looking for a good, cabaret-styled show, I also recommend checking out the shows at Spiegelworld!

Another place I recently discovered is a bar called rehab. Located in the Lower East Side (LES) on Ave. B, where club midway once resided, rehab is a venue featuring live bands and other performances. Wandering into the place expecting to find a simple bar, I was delightfully surprised upon discovering a live band and an enthusiastic dancing crowd. This is a place I recommend if you find yourself in the LES or the East Village without a specific plan or destination in mind, or if you simply want to check out some lesser-known bands. Rehab also features a regular reggae party on Sundays.

And from here, we move on to Brooklyn, my borough of residence and where I know most of the edgier music and dance venues to be found. Crooked Disco is, just as the name suggests, a disco party. The party often features live performances in addition to disco, electro, breakbeat, and other jivin’ dance tunes brought to you by the DJ. Crooked Disco is hosted both at Galapagos Art Space (in DUMBO) and Public Assembly (in Williamsburg).

Galapagos Art Space and Public Assembly also feature a diverse slew of other events, from theatrical performances to film screenings to lectures. They are both worth checking out; their events cater to a wide variety of audiences!

For an experience reminiscent of a (dirty/fun) college house party, try the Glasslands in Williamsburg. The performances of many up-and-coming bands in this venue, and its small size, are its high points; but be ready to accept an evening in an overcrowded place where very possibly most people seem (and maybe are) younger than you and there is a very distinct aroma of mildew in the air. These drawbacks aside, it is a fun venue to visit every now and then, especially if you are previously familiar with the band playing there. Visit ohmyrockness.com for listings of events at Glasslands along with musical shows across the city.

Finally, let me briefly name a few places where free or cheap musical performances may be found, often of the experimental and jazzy variety. In Williamsburg, Zebulon is a bar which boasts of free live music performances nightly. Shows begin at 9 pm, if they are on time. Though some of the bands are more experimental than, say, conventionally musical, there are some big names who perform here. Improv and free jazz, as well as poetry and comedy, are some of the features to be enjoyed here. Their website features a full calendar of up-and-coming events.

In Park Slope, ISSUE Project Room is a venue that features experimental music, interdisciplinary and multi-media performances, as well as art exhibitions, dinner events, literary readings and film screenings. Located at 3rd St. and 3rd Ave., at the Old American Can Factory, ISSUE is an artist-centered venue that boasts a board of such notable people as Steve Buscemi, Jonathan Lethem and Moby, among others.

(ISSUE Project Room, above)

Similarly, The Stone in Manhattan’s East Village is a space devoted to innovative, avant-garde and experimental music. Located on Ave. C and E. 2nd St., The Stone is under the artistic direction of well-known musician John Zorn.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, or whomever you are, is only the tip of the iceberg of the musical, cultural and dancing opportunities and venues in the city.

Absinthe and Beyond: Artistic and Physical Energy

The performance of Absinthe at Spiegelworld on Friday, at South Street Seaport, was an intimate, stunning tour-de-force. I sat with my date at the very front, literally just a foot or two away from the small circular stage. Knowing the show would be an erotically-charged cabaret performance, rather like a small-scale adult-version of Cirque de Soleil, we both expected that we would probably be involved in the theatrics of the evening. And we weren't disappointed.


Absinthe features a series of performances and theatrics, tied together by a slinky MC cabaret singer hostess and two comic, acrobatic performers. A 2006 review of the show on NY Times gives an adept synopsis of the show, but also reveals that the performers and their acts are varied with the show. The NY Times review features the act of a man in a bathtub, which was entirely absent from the performance I saw Friday. Regardless, the acts highlighted an unbelievable array of the acrobatically impressive and skilled to the comic and the bawdy. A more recent review of Absinthe, along with another Spiegelworld show, La Vie, from 2007, can be seen here. As the review states, be prepared for the intimacy of the show and possible audience participation.

The act which my date was called to participate in involved the "married couple" comic hosts who introduced their act as a demonstration on how to correctly make use of bananas in erotic play. Their performance consisted of shooting banana bites from their mouths across the stage into the mouth of their partner -- and also an attempt to shoot banana bites into the mouth of my date. As their act wound down, the bites became chewed up, processed banana sludge which they continued to switch back and forth.

This sort of jarring physical humor was balanced with acts purely gorgeous and breathtaking in their grace, from a hula-hooping gymnast/contortionist to a roller-skating couple whose finale included the woman attached to her partner by neck-braces and her whirling in the air, turning her entire body while only supported by her neck.

And the act which I was included in: an incredibly robotic, mechanical-styled dancer who lip-synced snippets of the song, and in a "low battery" pause, took my hand to have me "power him up" and stage-snuck a kiss on the lips with me.

Needless to say, it was a fun, fully captivating evening.

And, not to diminish my enjoyment of and satisfaction with the evening, the weekend continued in the same vein. Saturday I went dancing with a few friends of mine at Cattyshack, a ladies' club in Park Slope.

We stayed there, mostly dancing, until closing time at 4:00 am. The spirit of dancing camaraderie bordered on the libidinous. While there, we all donned creatures-of-the-night personas, temporarily paused in a collective dance trance, transported to a world apart from our daily cares.

And the next evening, Sunday, I found myself in a friend-of-a-friend's apartment in Harlem for a dinner party. In addition to my friend, I had only met one other person before. The evening felt like a throwback to a college dorm night, where a group of people sat discussing life and love and work. Having this sort of evening engaging in ponderous, meaningful and personal conversation was refreshing.

And so this weekend perfectly encapsulated my idealization of NYC culture at its height: a heady mix of the personal and anonymous, where we can both, and even simultaneously, lose ourselves and intimately connect, on emotional and physical levels.

This Week in Performances

I think the weather is making me lethargic, so I haven't been keeping particularly up-to-date with all the hustle-and-bustle of the city. But here are some things I may check out in the next few days:

Shows ongoing until Sep 15th (closing) - danscores by Ofelia Loret de Mola: Available Space.
Friday night, (shows ongoing until Nov 2nd), Absinthe at Spiegeltent.
Saturday night, Midnight Juggernauts show at Le Poisson Rouge. (with Grandmaster Flash)

Available Space Dance Performances: From the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council website:
September 8–10 & 12 at 12:30pm, September 13–15 at 8:00pm

City Hall Park, near the entrance at Broadway and Warren Street

Subway: R, W City Hall, 2,3 Park Place, 4,5,6 Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall

World Premiere

Ofelia Loret de Mola, a Mexican choreographer, collaborates with actors, musicians, and a visual artist to transform a swath of City Hall Park into a carnival that evokes the grit and cheap sparkle of a Mexican circus. Beginning on and around the chess tables, the dancers perform as circus characters illustrating chess in a political subtext to live music. The audience travels with the performers from the west side to the east side of the park where they are later led by a marching band to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Available Space is presented as part of Celebrate Mexico Now 2008, the 5th annual citywide festival of contemporary Mexican art and culture produced by CN Management. The festival closes on Sept. 15, celebrating Mexico’s Independence Day.