Club 69: BA’s Sexy Club Turns Eleven

The position of sexuality in the Argentine society seems controversial. On the one hand, the country has got the highest rate of Catholics of the whole continent, conservative values are still upheld and religious practices form a part of daily life. On the other hand, porteños are known for their openness towards the subject of telos, the pay-by-the-hour sex hotels, which mark the inner city of the continent’s gay capital and have an ever-growing clientele.

Sexuality has also become a subject in the art scene and features more and more. Some such artists who made eroticism publicly available together founded Club 69 11 years ago, which now takes place each Thursday at Niceto Club. The weekly happening is mainly focused on sexual stage performances, mixed with electronic music and breakdance. The lascivious shows have given the event a steady position in the cities nightlife and made it a point of reference for sexual diversity.

With rotating themes, the structure of the shows is following a fix schedule. Main act of the night is the so-called Compañía Inestable, the clubs disguised artists, performing their high-energy programme and allowing the crowd a voyeristic view on stage while partying in the club. In addition, there are the resident B-Boys who do their show for half an hour and there are the several DJs, putting on melodious techno-sounds.

Club 69 always hosts a wide variety of visitors and whereas underground events like this once mostly attracted scene-involved people, today there are also a lot of ex-pats on Thursdays at Niceto. This is mainly because the show has caused a sensation during its decade in existence, a sensation that both nightlife and travel guides took notice of.

But back at the beginning on 8th October 1998 it was anything but than startling. That night, a couple of friends, connected through their professions in the creative sector, met up in a little venue in the centre and organised an erotic storytelling for a little audience. Enjoying the new way of acting, the artists arranged the Noche Guaranga, a burlesque performance at Café Concert next to the obelisk. Soon, this venue couldn’t handle the rising popularity and Club 69 moved to Niceto Club in 2000, adding electronic music to the main concept and making a party out of the shows.

Proud of what they had created, two of the four founders are still present at the weekly event. Pedro Segni is one of them. As artistic director and a passionate DJ, he sees the activities at the happening from a hedonistic point of view that is orientated on fun and spontaneity.

“What we are is more a movement of professional artists than a business,” says Segni, who is visibly good-humoured while surrounded by his androgynous dancers.

Among the drama-queens is Robertino Grosso, who actually stopped working for the show after nine years of night-club activity and just came back for a couple of performances with his old friends. His homemade, tight and sparkling costume is mainly characterised through the focus on his equipment and this is also what he plays with during the stage-time.

Even though he gives everything to seem as voluptuous as possible, his impulse to go to Club 69 is another. “I do that because of the positive energy. I want to be active and in action and it’s just pure power when I go out on the stage. Even though I actually stopped working in nightlife, I still love to perform with these guys.”

After sharing a stage with the Chemical Brothers, advert appearances for Nike, Fiat and Nokia and recently shows in Brazil, the crew is now back at Niceto Club. If you come there on a Thursday night, you shouldn’t be out for a cheesy stage presentation but rather for a jaunty way of partying because the focus of the event is more a diversive way of having fun and being its own parody than gazing at the scene.

So why complain about an obviously visible lack of coordination or redundancy on stage? It’s not about presenting what you rehearsed, it’s about letting your thoughts go and enjoying a different way of clubbing.

Club 69 takes place each Thursday at Niceto Club, Niceto Vega 5510. If you enlist your name on www.club69.com.ar, the entrance is free til 1am. Afterwards it’s $25 for men and $20 for women. The official 11th birthday party is 8th October and some specialities will wait there for you.