Escuelita: The Politics of Dancing

by Diego

My hag always tells me: clubs are for dancing, the Internet is for hook ups. I agree, but it’s hard not to be on cock-hunting mode when you are in a closed space with hundreds of other horny males in it. And it is true that with hook up sites such as Adam4Adam (which was totally shut down for a few days last week, wtf?), Manhunt and Craigslist, there is no point in trying to find a trick in the real world. Although it is more rewarding and promising, it is too hard to find compatibility from a club trick. There is no previous screening for top/bottom/vers, dick size, etc. It’s a bit like hiring an employee without checking out his resume first.

So I hadn’t gone out dancing for the sole purpose of dancing since, like, 1999. But last night I went to Escuelita (301 W. 39th St.) with my on-going Peruvian trick and it was a blast – a kind of re-connection with the cathartic power of the dancefloor.

At Escuelita clubgoers aren’t stuck on their self-important, look-at-me bubbles. Clubbing here is more of a communal, borderline orgiastic experience. A plethora of brown-colored bodies bumping and grinding very close together, screaming with excitement every time a reggaeton hit starts up. It puts the ubiquitous electronika tunes they spin at white people’s clubs to shame.

It is very symptomatic of one’s culture, though. The fact that at white clubs we dance to robotic, sterile techno beats. And at a Latin club we find ourselves unafraid to simulate fellatio on strangers, slide on the human sweat accumulated on the dancefloor and concentrate on the dancing and not on the posing. This is what club dancing is really about: a collective celebration of the erotic kind – much beyond the self-indulgent pragmatism of Caucasian, mainstream teachno clubs (get in, find a trick, cab home).

It was an added plus that Escuelita is more filled with lesbians than fags on Fridays. That way we didn’t have to worry about looking perfect and acting butcher to attract the male gaze. We danced and danced and danced. Even drinking seemed superfluous to the infectious sounds of Don Omar, Daddy Yankee and Pitbull.

On Saturdays it’s mostly guys night, and cover goes from the $10 (on Fridays) to $20. But you can go to www.escuelita.com and set up a text-message discount for both nights.

For more Diego, click right here.