It’s 2008. When you go out to a club for the evening, you expect bottle service, ultra-modern décor and pulsating trance or hypnotizing house music. If you’re a smoker, you step outside to light up, and when all is said and done, you’re groping blindly around your pockets for the metrocard that is your ticket home. But it wasn’t always so. And there’s a way to travel back through time. The Dances of Vice are monthly cabaret events, evoking the rebellious spirit of past days, a celebration of creativity and free-spirited enjoyment.
While its monthly shows focus on the gangster-chic 1930s, the August festival is a special event, dubbed The Time Traveler’s Ball, and focusing on the 18th and 17th centuries. Dance of Vice embraces both the underlying sleaze of early industrial toil and the majesty of sepia-toned aristocracy of framed photographs on social club walls. A celebration of everything classical (and not in the Roman sense), Dance of Vice strives to evoke images of Beethoven and Burke, but with a liberal application of modern debauchery.
You can expect to hear modern takes on classical music, with skilled DJs serenading peacoat-wearing gentlemen and petticoat-clad ladies with neo-classical and neo-folk music. Take in the old-school fashions, with tight corsets, crisp bow-ties, straight-laced military tunics and skirts the size of a ballooning mushroom. It’s glamour; it’s class; a time when man walked the earth in time with the rhythmic tango of castanets and the clap-clap of iron-shod hooves.
Literary titans penned their great classics against a political backdrop that we now recognize as the precursor to our world. The swirling gala continues as couples pirouette their way through the perverse and elegant alike. It’s a wondrous synergy of both our best and our worst – but which one’s which? Well, that’s up to you.
Clubplanet recently sat down with the wonderful Ms. Shien Lee, whose vision of vice got this whole thing started, to get the scoop on the August Time Traveler’s Ball.
Clubplanet: Where did the concept for Dances of Vice originate?
Shien Lee: I love the music of the 1920-30s, a period of which I am very fond, and I collect vintage clothes, costumes and accouterments. Initially, Dances of Vice wasn't so much a vision as it was a whim – I wanted to start a night where I could generate appreciation for these beloved tunes and vintage culture, and bring together individuals with similar interests. I also wanted to create an occasion to which I could dress in my fancy vintage clothes and dance to my favorite music!
CP: How did you become inspired to go forwards and create the festivals and cabarets?
Shien Lee: I expanded the event to become the first Dances of Vice Festival in February 2007 because I had received many e-mails from enthusiasts from across North America who desired to attend Dances of Vice. I wanted to put on a large-scale weekend event in New York to really make it worth it for those who were willing to travel for the occasion – and many people did! We had guests come from as far as Sydney, London, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Detroit, Miami…the list goes on, and I'm appreciative to those who traveled so far to attend. Since then, we've also had many out-of-state and foreign visitors to our club nights at The Montauk Club.
CP: What sort of hurdles had to be overcome in order to make Dances of Vice a reality?
Shien Lee: I think finding a suitable venue has been one of the most challenging aspects of organizing Dances of Vice events. There are so many elements to consider, from venue fees/guarantees to venue size and atmosphere; but fortunately, we have found a very good home at The Montauk Club in Brooklyn. Another great challenge is of course financial restraints, but I try not to worry about it and won't let it interfere with my vision of how I want the event to be or offer.
CP: Dances of Vice, why that name?
Shien Lee: I named the club after one of my favorite German films, Tänze des Lasters, which, as our website proclaims, celebrates rebellion, creative expression, and the triumph of pleasure over societal restraints. The film narrative also forges connections between the present and the past, which is also the idea for Dances of Vice. I wanted to invite other creative individuals to participate in our carnivalesque appreciation of a forgotten era, and support musicians and artists who also seek to revive this style of music or art with their work.
CP: What made you choose the 1920s-30s as the time period for the monthly cabarets? Likewise, how did the events expand to other periods of history?
Shien Lee: I also love the fashion and aesthetic of the 18th and 19th Centuries, and own numerous clothing items and accouterments from those eras as well. Of course, I am drawn to the rebellious and decadent side of those eras too, as you can probably tell from the festival themes and features!
The headlining band I had booked for the first festival had a nouveau Victorian style, so I decided to bill the event as a Victorian costume ball. The monthly jazz age parties were fun, but I eventually wanted to try new and different themes.. I don't want to be known as "that 1920s party" or have the events feel like another band show for whichever local artist. Even when I do have 1920-30s nights, I try to make each one different with a variety of themes. Our last event was "Shanghai Vice", which featured live and recorded music from 1920-30s Shanghai, and our elegant attendees dressed in beautiful Asian-inspired or vintage Chinese attire.
CP: Does one need to be overly familiar with the time period in question to fully enjoy the event?
Shien Lee: Not at all! There is a wonderful feeling of community at Dances of Vice events that makes it very special for its guests – who are certainly very special, themselves. People come to meet and have a good time with other interesting individuals, and you don't need to be a history or fashion expert to have a good time with anyone, I should think! A lot of people come to admire the costumes and enjoy the club music and atmosphere, and most are attracted to the romantic or aesthetic appeal of the period style, regardless of how invested they are in this particular subculture. The Montauk Club itself presents a feast for the eyes, as it was modeled after a palace on Grand Canal in Venice, and because it's a private club, Dances of Vice offers an opportunity for the general public to enjoy an evening there they would not otherwise have access to (unless they became a member, which is highly recommended!). I'd have to say at least 95% of all our club patrons come fully and elaborately costumed.
CP: Will there be any major difference between the night at the Montauk Club and the following evening at Rebel NYC?
Shien Lee: Saturday will be more "classical" - I've described it as a gala event, whereas Rebel is more of the live band music nightlife event. On Saturday, guests can expect to enjoy live Baroque opera, harpsichord, dance art, theatre, that sort of thing. On Sunday, we have some amazing live bands that are inspired by Dances of Vice themes but perform more contemporary avant-garde music.
CP: When can we look forwards to another festival, and what might its period theme be?
Shien Lee: I am shooting for May 2009 for the next festival, and I'm thinking about making it a 3-day event, one for each the Jazz Age, Victorian, and Rococo themes that I lo