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Coven II is a underground drum and bass club in just outside Oxford's city center. It used to be a gay club until it closed at the end of the 80s. It was then refurbished and reopened as Coven II in the late 90s and has since been the best D&B club in the south of England. Not only is the building perfect; a ground floor and basement with balconies around the basement from the first floor, a pedestal for DJs raised around 15 feet off the floor, an eight foot sub-woofer located on the dancefloor and seating ares located in small caves in the wall. Recent huge acts to play there include Shy FX, Skepta, Mampi swift, Pendulum, Baraka, Skinny Man, as well as local MCs such as MC Choppa, MC Addict and MC TYG.
As well as a weekend saturday night Kinetic night, there is also a weekly gay night which has even attracted interest from MTV, and a Thursday student night with a different theme each week, including foam parties (with foam often reaching as high as the roof of the basement) snow parties, water fights (with over 2000 water guns provided) and fancy dress nights. There is also a thriving bar, as well as the main dance floor and smaller dance floor, and also an outside smoking area with heater lights and perfectly comfy seating. As well as being within five minutes of the city center and the Oxford train station, it is also just around the corner from a taxi rank. It can also be booked out for private parties regularly and the staff are all extremely outgoing and friendly, and will often get involved with the fun. That is why I recommend Coven II as one of the best nights out in the whole of the country.
Oxpens road, Oxford.
A great show for the price of a round of drinks.
Some of the best new dance I've seen (Memento Mori, Tanya Khabarova).
The best of the Edinburgh fringe and brand spanking new plays so fresh they still creak a little bit.
Occasionally the purveyors of arty nonsense. You can always leg it at the half if it's bad. Some great theatre and the odd hilarious turkey.
www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
1 Hope Place, Liverpool, L1 9BG
PS122 is the centre of experimental performance (dance, theatre, live art, etc) in New York City. It has been a hub of interesting work for over 30 years.
Sometimes the work is fantastic and sometimes it is not so good - but the low ticket price makes it worth the risk. Their biannual festival, Avant-Garde-Arama is an experience worth the risk.
www.ps122.org
It is on 1st Avenue and 9th Street in the East Village. You can get their via the L train to 1st avenue, the 6 train to Astor, the R train to 8th Street, or the F to 2nd Avenue.
It's a sort of lounge/nightclub. I think it is a restaurant during the day. I was stumbling around Zoologischer Garten on a Thursday night and some kid handed me a flyer which (out of character for me) I took and it said there was live music playing. So I went over there and when I went in I was really surprised. There was a great band doing covers of soul classics and some other things i didnt recognise with an amazing piano player (who looked like Pat from Saturday Night Live) who took solo after solo and did not disappoint. Not to mention that the place was very stylish, chic but not expensive. Most people were sitting down and listening to the music but another group was dancing. I had a great time there and went back twice during that stay. I heartily reccomend it.
Kantstrasse 17
west on kantstrasse from the Zoo Station in Charlottenburg.
Beautiful little tango bar in the San Telmo district. The place is so small that you can really appreciate the performers' skill. You do get roped in with singing and even dancing, but it's done with such good humour that it's really not that painful.
The bar is featured in Wong Kar-Wai's film Happy Together.
Estados Unidos 299
San Telmo
Buenos Aires
www.bar-sur.com.ar/
Nit in Vela is Valencia's answer to the White Nights that have taken pace in other European cities, such as Rome, Paris, Madrid and Barcelona in recent years.
On the 31st of March, from 8pm, for over eight hours several of the major thoroughfares and plazas, and particularly the Rio Turia, Valencia's wonderful Park, will see over thirty spectaculars. From theatre to music to dance to acrobatics and fireworks. It's all to celebrate the beginning of the America's Cup, which takes place from April to July in the port.
The historic centre of Valencia, For much more information on the event and all things Valencia. www.thisisvalencia.com/newinvalencia.html
Another chain pub/brewery, the Hog is a decent, fairly run-of-the- mill place – lots of hardwood, good bar food, and nice beer. But it’s when Thursday night rolls around that the place really hots up. Latin Night is something special in otherwise reserved Christchurch, when the small Latin American community come out to shake their hips.
A swinging band provide the thumping beat, and salsa dancers bump and grind on the packed dancefloor. Let the cerveza and salsa flow.
Address: 178 Cashel Street, Christchurch.
Telephone: (64-3) 3666674
Website: www.loadedhog.co.nz/christchurch
This venue hosts a show, live music (Son and salsa) and dancing to recorded music after. It is located in the basement of Teatro Heredia (weekends only).
Airconditioned and therefore a nice place to go to especially in the summer.
You need to get your tickets before 7.00 p.m. on the door and that way find out if the venue is open to the public that day.
Teatro Heredia, Plaza de la Revolucion, Santiago de Cuba
Baracoa is a quaint seaside village cut off from the rest of Cuba until recently. It has a unique history as Cuba's first capital and is home to the music which is the origin of salsa. Cultural shows and music/dance lessons are given at the Casa de la Cultura.
To book lessons from UK see: www.takeyourtimetravel.com
There's a building in Islamic Cairo that has a Sufi performance evening. I don't know what evening, or where exactly the building is (but it's close to Khan Khalili and Al Azhar), so try and ask someone in the know about this performance, because it's really worth watching. One particular whirling dervish keeps his spin going for nearly an hour. Amazing.
Every Sunday evening the residents of the cobbled streets of San Telmo indulge themselves in their favourite pastime, the tango. Don't pay for an expensive tango show, simply observe from a bustling cafe these locals doing what they do best well into the early hours of Monday morning.
San Telmo is easily reached from Buenos Aires's main Avenue, Avenida de Mayo, walking for approximately 15 minutes along La Defensa.
I think it's a regular (the third Friday of every month?) club night that is as unpretentious as it comes and raises money for various causes each month. July was for Computers for Palestine. e had a great time dancing to funky house, reggae and a whole mix of other stuff. The people were great.
The Crown, Bathwick Street
www.leftism.co.uk
Floating hip hop and drum and bass. Set near the refurbished Bristol waterfront, this unique club/boat has everything....drink and dance your pants off downstairs and then chill out upstairs to jazz or chillout and have a cheese toastie. My idea of a fab night out....
East Mud Dock, Bristol
0117 929 3301
The new Flamenco Dance Museum by Cristina Hoyos is definitely worth a visit. With its interactive rooms, you can find loads of information of flamenco dance and dancers, alas, not so much of guitarists and singers. 10€ / 8€.
C/ Manuel Rojas Marcos 3;
tel: 954 340 311; fax: 954 340 364;
email: info@museoflamenco.com
www.flamencomuseum.com
Head to the Casa Musica to dance with the locals on the square in front of the church and drink mojito's till you drop. After this, head to the caves, where you will find the most unlikely nightclub in the world, and you can bop to merengue between the stalagtites in an enormous underground cavern.
Alternatively if you are fluent in Spanish and not afraid to stick out a mile - mix it up with the youth of the town in Chocolat y Fresca - another unlikely venue that bears witness to some truly astonishing dancing on a Friday night.
Tribe of Doris is essentially a festival, held in the beauty of the West Country - but a festival with a difference, one that inspires and creates, sings and dances and celebrates the exploration and unity of different cultures and people from all over the world. For five glorious hot August days you can be taught the vibrant wonders of African dance or Cherokee singing, or relax with tai chi or yoga sessions. With an exquisite combination of drum, dance, song and ceremony, Doris is an absolutely sumptuous and totally unique festival experience! Tribe of Doris; Many cultures, One race.
For fans of Argentine Tango, Dublin has a thriving Tango scene with milongas (social dances) and classes on every night of the week. Many of the classes are taught by native Argentine teachers. The great thing about Tango in Dublin is that all the Tango events are accessible on foot from the city centre. Some of the venues have a great Tango atmosphere. Particularly recommended are the Castle Inn Pub and Wynn's Hotel. Unlike some cities, you don't need a partner to take classes. The Dublin Tango community is very cosmopolitan with regulars who come from all over Europe. Things are quieter in January as many of the Argentine teachers go home for the winter months but the full schedule of events should be back up by February. Those that are away usually arrange for a senior students to fill in for them. Prices of classes and milongas range from 6.50 to 10 Euros.
www.geocities.com/tangoireland/ www.tangofever.net/ www.tangoireland.com/ www.abctango.com/almagro/ www.morosini-whelan.com/
This is my favourite club in Paris. It is an old fashioned disco, with seats, a tiny wooden dance floor and an eighties retro look. Fridays and Saturdays starts as a bal-musette with couples dancing, but nearer to closing time you can dance to anything from French pop oldies to Kylie and Dalida.
It's all very French, but not in the English meaning of the word, friendly, definitively hetero friendly and although a bit studenty sometimes it's a great place to go out and dance to your heart's content without the hassle of trendier places. They also run a busy programme of activities during the week, and a bar next door (Rue des Virtus)
Le tango,
13, rue au Maire 75003 Paris
Metro: Arts et Métiers
Tel. (33-1) 01 42 72 17 78
www.boite-a-frissons.fr/
If you're in Rio and it's not carnival time, you can still find some of that carnival atmosphere and authentic samba. Head to the weekly "ensaio", or rehearsal, of Salgueiro, one of Rio's top samba schools. Don't worry you don't have to dress up or know how to dance. It's basically a big party to familiarise people with the school's music, while also helping to raise money for costumes and floats.
All samba schools run ensaios, usually on the weekends, but Salgueiro is one of the more conveniently located. Just hop in a taxi and ask for "a quadra do Salgueiro".
Rua Silva Teles 104, Andarai Tel. 021-2288 3065
Dancing to Salsa music. Don't spend all your time sitting on your duff at the trough. Get some exercise and have fun. If you're bored with just standing on the floor and doing your same two moves all night long then learn partner dancing where you actually have to use your brain and not just your groin.
There is a number of good restaurants which have Salsa on certain evenings and usually begin with a beginners class whereby in one hour you can learn enough to have fun and look stylish. No partner is needed. Baile!
www.isabellesalsa.com
www.alberttorresevents.com
Monsoon Restaurant, 1212- 3rd St. Prom, Santa Monica,Wednesdays at 8pm.;
Casa Escobar, 14160 Palawan Way
Marina del Rey, Sundays 7:15pm;
Rio Restaurant,15910 Ventura Blvd./ Encino / CA 91436, Sundays 3:30pm till 10pm.;
Century Club, Century City,10131 Constellation Blvd / Century City/Los Angeles / CA 90067, Fridays 8pm (me gustan las gorditas!);
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