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You know you're at the right party when
the deejay is having every bit as much
fun as the crowd he's playing for.
There's no time for texting in this
booth; it's all about throwing down the
beats that keep you shakin' your bacon.
That would be Roland Belmares in the
Marlin Room of Webster Hall who worked
the boys and girls for hours on end with
his infectious enthusiasm and sexy happy
house grooves.
This was the house that Alegria built: a
veritable rainbow rainforest of lavender
elephants, pink-striped zebras,
aquamarine tigers, neon green birds, and
a sea of giddy party people dancing in
the name of Pride.
Ric Sena's Alegria Pride 2013 was
nothing less than the ultimate Pride
celebration: a 2,500-person, 12-hour,
non-stop pleasure odyssey marked by an
extravagant production number and the
mother of all confetti drops.
Consider also that this was happening in
New York's historic Webster Hall,
Manhattan's largest nightclub, a
four-story, 40,000-square-foot, 1886
structure that resembles a rock-n-roll
mansion (or the Hollywood home of Norma
Desmond) complete with tessellated
floors and marble staircases.
With a history of costume balls and gay
bacchanals, Webster Hall has hosted
performers such as Tina Turner, Prince,
and Pink, as well as Madonna's pajama
party - but rarely has the "Jewel of the
Village" glowed with such rainbow
resplendence as it did for Alegria Pride
2013.
Sena's evocative production design,
combined with Stephen Wyker's lighting
magic, transformed Webster Hall into the
New York gay equivalent of the Playboy
Mansion, complete with a surfeit of
Pride bunnies and jungle boys.
Upstairs in the Grand Ballroom, DJ
Renato Cecin kept a packed floor
mesmerized with his Brazilian dirty
house - and when the curtains rose on a
three-tiered tropical island of rainbow
flora and fauna, the crowd went
delirious with applause and upraised
cell phones. A tropical blizzard of
rainbow confetti swirled and drifted in
the air, piling on the floor in little
drifts of rainbow Pride. Pink-spotted
leopard boys danced with carefree
abandon while chartreuse zebras cavorted
with iridescent birds.
For the past thirteen years, Sena's
Alegria Pride parties have been the
climax of NYC Pride weekend - and a
reminder of the power of collective joy.
Now in its second decade, Alegria has
outlasted the most sacrosanct of New
York clubs - and Sena continues to
burnish Alegria’s reputation with his
masterful touch, creating jaw-dropping,
mesmerizing theatrical environments for
all-night events that showcase the
lights, lasers, and sounds of a stable
of musical and technical geniuses, as
well as the fiercely loyal Alegria
family.
Alegria: it's a legend, happening now. |
