Since its launch in New York City’s Lower East Side in 2009, Venus X’s GHE20G0TH1K party has been at the forefront of club music and style. Started alongside Hood by Air’s Shayne Oliver, the party has represented global dance styles (including hip hop, R&B, ballroom, Jersey club, juke, kuduro, dembow and beyond), incubated various DJ, producer, vocal, and design talents, and acted as a vital outlet for the city’s queer and marginalised communities to express themselves.
Two major elements of GHE20G0TH1K’s parties have been ballroom music and vogue dance culture, with DJs and dancers being regular fixtures at the parties and ballroom tracks heavily represented in Venus X’s sets. “The dancing is such an easy thing to love,” Venus X tells us, “It’s important that people know there’s a really high level of dancing happening, and that’s been happening for 50 years. It’s a style that’s been around forever that’s been bastardised by pop culture. It has DJs and dancers and producers. I thought it’s a good starting point, because it’s the oldest part of gay New York nightlife right now, and it’s the most overlooked. I’ve always played ballroom tracks in my sets pretty much since I started DJing, so I had to honour my favourite style.”
Directed by Gabriel Chaignon, the video was produced ahead of a GHE20G0TH1K party taking place in The Bronx next Wednesday (June 1) as part of Ray-Ban x Boiler Room’s year-long collaborative series, with this particular monthly message being Push Yourself. The event is exclusive to 18 to 21-year-olds and features a lineup handpicked by Venus X. Dominican rapper Messiah El Artista, Baltimore rapper Tate Kobang, Jersey’s DJ Cueheat, and Berlin’s Kablam have all been brought in from outside NYC. Meanwhile, ballroom DJ Byrell the Great represents the city, playing on home turf alongside Philly’s LSDXOXO, whose forthcoming Fuck Marry Kill mixtape will be the first release on the newly-launched GHE20G0TH1K label. Rounding out the lineup is Venus X herself, going back-to-back with Asmara of Nguzunguzu.
You can RSVP to the event here to get updates and a lowdown on its currently undisclosed location. Watch the documentary and see the event flyer below:
