WASHINGTON, D.C. (CelebrityAccess) Washington D.C.’s 9:30 Club has reportedly started a LGBTQ dance party called “BENT,” which will be held quarterly.
“The 9:30, back when it was started by Dodi Disanto in the early ’80s, the great thing was it was a home for the alternative crowd,” Seth Hurwitz, chairman of I.M.P., and co-owner of the 9:30 Club and The Anthem, told Pollstar. “In those days, the gay crowd was in fact an alternative crowd. … The 9:30 has always represented a home both for employees and the public as a safe and welcoming place for people who are self-expressive and individual and defy categorization.
“Hopefully that’s what we’re known for, rather than an event. To have an event like this is great – I love it. But hopefully people feel welcome all the time.”
The idea for BENT was created at one of the club’s town hall meetings, which 9:30 hosts as an open forum to give employees an opportunity to offer ideas, according to Pollstar.
“As a first-time event, to have a dance party the Saturday after New Year’s Eve, in the dead of winter when there’s a government shutdown, to turn people away [because we were sold out] it’s phenomenal,” Audrey Fix Schaefer, communications director for I.M.P., told Pollstar. “There was a catwalk and go-go dancers and drag queens. No two events are going to be the same. What will be the same is making it a real dance party … where you end up in a full ball of sweat because you’re dancing the whole night.”
