Due to heightened security concerns in the US, Santa’s sleigh couldn’t make it to Alegria to deliver the décor—but in the end, what did it matter? As we’ve all learned in a miserable economy, what are a few less presents under the tree when we’re surrounded by family? As it was, Alegria New Year’s Holiday delivered a streamlined, sleek package of a party that showcased the latest sounds in the evolution of the musical maestros DJs Tony Moran and Abel.

The first thing we heard upon entering M2 was this year’s song of the year runner-up (second only to Kelly Rowland’s ubiquitous anthem): Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”—and to hear Tony Moran’s version was to witness how he seduces his audience with hard romanticism, a deep and soulful thundering bass overlaid with a soaring melodic line.

Think of Tony’s set as the dance-floor equivalent of a full-on pelvic pump in the bedroom while some hottie murmurs in your ear: lyrics like “Can You Feel It?/That Sound,” “You Make Me Feel Sensational,” “Just let me hold your body…” This was seduction from the booth carried onto the floor—and beyond.

For this year’s edition of Alegria Holiday, the deejay booth was front and center on the M2 stage—the better for the night’s Santas to see who was naughty and nice. With the packed floor pulsing like a multi-cellular organism, lighting whiz kid Stephen Wyker sent the light wheels whirling in an aurora borealis frenzy of red and green—like search lights beaming from the North Pole.

No one fills a floor like Alegria. Santa’s elves in red Santa hats bounced and bumped with girls in white glasses and boyz with umbrellas and bright shiny hats, while a babe in a red bikini and white knee-high boots gave good booty from a box. Every Alegria brings out boyz in costume and boyz with props, so that, ultimately, the entire party becomes an exercise in improvisational theatre—and Alegria Holiday was an ongoing show of realness.

To gaze around the club, boyz embracing, clinging together, happy, carefree boyz dancing with abandon, boyz on the boxes, boyz lining the staircase, and the Alegria bartenders breaking it down was to be grateful for homo joy on the gene code.

If you’re lucky, you see it all again as if for the first time—like several in attendance who got their Alegria cherry popped at Alegria New Year’s Holiday. One woman had lived in NYC for ten years—and this was her first Alegria (and you wanted to say, “Honey, you’re just in time for the tin-year anniversary) as well as two newbies with DJ Sean McMahon. Welcome to the family, newbies!

And there were Santa’s favorite helpers, Adam Weaver and Steve Schreiber, as well as Joon Wang, and superboy “Ricky” Perez, and Jake Resnicow and DJ Billy Lacy, and Alex B. and James C. and Ryan Z., and Andrew P. and Miss Tres Ness and Michael Nguyen (working a phone with cord) and Paul Zahn (answering a banana) and Santa’s elf, Betto Mares, and Incredible Pat, and Natty Nat, and Jesse and Robert, and Christian, and Kristin Z. and JD, and Charles and a whole bunch of others both naughty and nice.

And meanwhile, Tony in the booth was sending out “Arabian Nights,” with a rhythmic thrust, a hip-jumping jiggle, and later, vocals cajoling, “Take a breath, say it now, show it now, you can see my heart, tear it apart.” “Can you feel it? Can you see it?” This was Tony’s new sound, the latest in his ongoing evolution—and as lighting wiz (and Moscow maven) Guy Smith put it, “A very dynamic set.” Like the echo from distant galaxies—as we sailed through the universe—to the tune of “I Love You.” Over and over again, “I love you, I love you.” Beautiful to hear—lovely to witness: an entire roomful of happy boyz singing along: “I love you.”

And then it was time for Frenchie Davis, the former American Idol contestant who showed those judges she’s got more talent (and tits) than they’ll ever have, singing her latest hit, the Tony Moran track, “You Are.” The just-released single comes from Tony’s upcoming CD “Magic”—and Frenchie sang it out with as much force and purpose as she did the second act opener in “Rent” during her tenure on Broadway.

There was also cake: birthday cake for Tony—as Abel congratulated him and took over the booth. “Let me see you shake,” Abel commanded—with a bit of “Besito” and a little “Cha Cha,” which generated a collective cheer from the packed floor. Abel rules. He throws down the beat and demands that you catch it. Shake with it, bake with it—and make it yours. That’s what he did with the Axwell/Sunfreakz track “Counting Down the Daze,” ripping it into pieces and reassembling it to his liking. Or in the words of one lyric, “Hey boy, where you learn to funk like that?” And when he broke into the eternal chestnut, the seminal track of gay liberation, Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” Abel stripped the song down to the lyric, “I learned how to get along”—repeating it over and over, making it a refrain for the times, a paean for living in this world, by being both naughty and nice.

Ten years of Alegria. Ten years of parties like Alegria New Year’s Holiday. As one text put it: Awesome. Alegria: it’s something to celebrate. Here’s to another joyful Alegria year.