- So I had my first clubbing experience yesterday at Zouk. It was a real eye-opener, and "lung blacker-ner".
Zouk is actually a really small place in my opinion. And it's already considered big among the dance clubs. Phuture (I didn't enter) was next to it and so was Velvet Underground, which I can't enter becos it's for those aged 25 and above. Entrance fee was seriously 'dirt-cheap' compared to the shabby and nonsensical Club Home tickets. It cost $4 if you're a member of Herstory and $8 for non-members. At the entrance, there were four bouncers in beige suits and lots of security personnel around. And yes, they checked my IC at the door but not other people around me -_- But they didn't confiscate my 'NARIWA' haha! Actually, I bought some other water bottle, but I thought it'll just be funny if I call my water, 'NARIWA'. You what it means anyway. Inside Zouk, the toilets are superbly clean and have some funky architectural/deco design.
For today, it was one of the Herstory parties (a.k.a lesbian nite) and they were having some award ceremony with performances thrown in. It was a 'grrls' only' event and men were not allowed unless accompanied by other women. And my goodness, it was probably the biggest gathering of queer girls I've ever sinced in my life, 95% of patrons were girls. Of that 95%, probably 75% were butches. That was so damn dissapointing, cos butches are not my type and they were practically flooding the place. If any girl was feminine, she would be draped around the arms of a butch. And PL couples were rare. There was also alot of PDA, that you don't ever see on the streets. Holding hands, touching, sleazy eye contact, pecking. Everybody wore black. NO kidding. And actually, there were very few good looking people. Okay, there were the 'Formula One' Dancers who had super hot bods, and there was this girl which looked a hell lot like Lynn Chen from Saving Face, and whom I thought was pretty. But that's about it. And besides, you can't really see people under all that hazy dry ice fumes.
And ten thousand smokers. Practically 1 in 4 clubbers were smoking. I detest the smoking man, my 'virgin' lungs couldn't take it and after awhile, it feels like your throat is constricting. At the end of the night, the back of my throat felt like sand paper. Drinks were outrageously expensive. I drank a Yakault's worth of lychee martini and it cost $12. TWELVE DOLLARS!! For the little dainty glass, some interesting tasting liquid and a huge lychee piece. It tasted good, but I know I'll never become a drinker. Besides it being a bad thing, alcohol makes me insanely thirsty. I don't know why, but everytime I drink I get super thirsty. So yeah, that's my other safe-guard besides the moral one.
Choking smoke, lack of pretty girls and femmes, thirst-inducing drinks aside, the show was pretty good! I can say one thing for certainty. Drag queens are larger than life. Literally. They were really really massive-bodied. Chinese blood but with the body of Westerners. I can't imagine how they got so huge. But they were damn funny and charismatic, cracking impromptu jokes like pros on stage. It's a surprise when you see this lavishly dressed up lady in gown, with jewellery and make-up and then suddenly 'she' speaks in a low growl to shock the crowd. That's how a drag queen enters. They take you by surprise. And I didn't even suspect that they were men at first! As mentioned, there were 'Formula One' dancers who were dressed in leotards with racing prints on it and some butch 'acts' which pretty much didn't interest me. Duh. But the real stars of the show were the drag queens. They had some really funny dancing segments, Bollywood or Hollywood style, and they can really dance man! Cos they're men obviously, so they had alot of energy, agility and strength for all the crazy dances.
After the show, the DJ came on and played dance music. For all the crappy dancing that you get in N J, it seriously can't compare to the real thing. Dancing in a club can only be described as a surreal affair. From the balconies above, you see a writhing mass of bodies when you look down. Strobe lights, neon-coloured halos and dry ice haze everywhere. And the music literally thumps. It's not very loud that your ears pop. But the bass was very strong, so your body vibrates with every beat. I'm not kidding when I say I can feel the beat in my heart. And when you feel the beat in you, it really gets you into the dancing mood. Even if you aren't on the dance floor and just observing from above, the beat makes you jive a little on the spot already. On ground zero, things get wackier. It's very packed and squeezy but then again, that is the whole point. One of the reasons why our school dances suck its becos of lack of people. When you're close to others, everybody just feeds off each other's energy. It's also rather infectious cos even if you feel out of place and awkward, you'd just find youself dancing in a few seconds. Cos everybody is doing it and having fun, and so you just go with the flow. You don't even need alcohol to start grooving. I bet even the most awkward, shy, nerdy person will just transform when they get on the dance floor. The amazing thing is, you don't even sweat. The Zouk owners are very smart, they put the aircon on full-blast and it's rather freezing inside. But becos of that, you can dance till the next morning in a tight group without even perspiring. It's quite unlike Club Home where you see people coming out sweaty and drenched. In Zouk, you only come out with hair ruffled from shaking, or zigzag walking from drinking. But certainly, no sweat on you. That made the dancing all the more enticing.
Of all that happened, the dancing part was the best in Zouk. You can really get high on dancing, especially if the DJ plays good music and the crowd around you is packed and moving too. Some of the earlier performers came to dance too and they were really entertaining to watch. Especially the drag queens who stood on a podium and dance kooky, obviously meant to amuse you, kind of moves. When we left the 'mosh pit-like' dance floor, I couldn't even walk up the stairs in a straight line cos my legs were tired and giving way, and inertia kept the body momentum going. Later, we sat and chat till the party was over. Then we walked out of the club, and sat on the road-side and chat some more. There were drunk people of cos, but surprisingly no one vomitted. There was one guy who passed out on the road-side. A pale girl slumped over her red-faced butch girl friend. I was more curious and amused than repulsed. Cos I can't understand how people can drink so much when it costs an arm and leg for a jug of beer, and especially when it makes you thirsty. Maybe that's just me.
You know, if there's one thing I absolutely detest about clubbing, it is the smoke. It's a chimney in there and apparently, Zouk is considered not that bad already. But for what its worth, the dancing was really good. I can see why people like to club, cos you can really lose youself in the dancing. I doubt I'd go back to Zouk unless there was another lesbian event that is worthy enough for me to go. Cos the smoke can really get unbearable and why torture yourself you know? There are actually non-smoking clubs/pubs and maybe I'd go there instead.
Yep. Tonight was a real eye-opener indeed. I saw a little bit more of the world, clubbing culture to be specific. But I don't fancy it really. You either gotta be a party animal, smoker or drinker to like clubbing. If you aren't, just go there once for the experience and be done with it. Neither would you really want to meet new people in a club, cos you have no idea of their background and there's a high probability that they smoke. But if there's a non-smoking club that has really good dance music and atmosphere, I wouldn't mind going cos dancing is really fun haha! It's surreal.
It started at 10 pm and we finally left at 3 in the morning. After sitting outside for awhile, I was still on a high. Then we went to Shell station to grab a snack. After eating, we were so drained and zonked out that after awhile, the number of words spoken per minute decreased sharply. 6 am in the morning, I finally took a train home cos we were too cheapskate to take a taxi heheh. Then I finally fell asleep when people started to awake.
Tired. But I finally feel legal. Ha.
elsa | 6:20 PM
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