dancing

Boccato Gelato Expanding with Boccato Lounge

By ARLnow.com

When the adjacent El Chaparral Meat Market closed earlier this year, the owners of Boccato Gelato & Espresso in Clarendon (2719 Wilson Blvd) spotted an opportunity. They signed a lease for the space, and are now in the process of converting it into a bar/lounge.

The new “Boccato Lounge” will serve as a “place for families and the community to gather,” according to co-owner Cristian Velasco. Featuring beer, wine and live entertainment, the lounge will similar to Tryst in Adams Morgan — a hybrid coffee/alcohol hang-out spot.

Velasco says the lounge will allow Boccato to give its coffee and espresso program the attention it deserves, while giving customers more room to enjoy their drinks. There will, of course, be free WiFi.

The lounge will include a stage where local musicians will be able to perform and movies will be able to be screened. Velasco envisions Latin, jazz and bluegrass musicians taking the stage on some nights, and DJs performing on other nights. The rest of the lounge space will be able to accommodate various community uses, including yoga in the mornings, educational events during the day, salsa dancing at night and kids activities on weekends.

“Chill atmosphere, good music,” is how he summarized the concept.

Meanwhile, Velasco is busy opening a second Boccato Gelato on King Street in Old Town Alexandria. He expects the store to open in late June. No word yet on when Boccato Lounge may open.

H/t to John Fontain

Flash Mob Outside Clarendon Metro Station

By ARLnow.com

It’s not every day that a group of belly dancers spontaneously shows up outside a Metro station and starts performing for onlookers. But that’s exactly what happened Friday night when dancers from the Saffron Dance belly dancing school in Clarendon (3260 Wilson Blvd) organized their very own flash mob.

The ‘official’ video of the performance is above.

While some flash mobs have been greeted with looks of abject confusion from bystanders, Clarendonites seemed to know the drill — they took out their cell phones and cameras and started recording the encounter.

“All had a great time and there were no arrests,” the video’s YouTube page notes.

H/t to Danielle H.

Club 31-11 Opens on Columbia Pike

By ARLnow.com

Nightlife on Columbia Pike has just gotten a bit more vibrant with the addition of Club 31-11, a nightclub, hookah bar, lounge and pool hall all rolled into one.

Club 31-11 (3111 Columbia Pike) is housed in a two-story building that was formerly home to an Ethiopian restaurant. It features Latin fusion cuisine and multiple DJ stations in an eclectically-decorated, two floor building. It opened for the first night of publicly-announced music and dancing last night, as first reported by a new blog called Pike Town Center.

Manager Moe Aniba says the club will host parties and events on weekends. He said more details will be released once the establishment’s web site launches.

Aniba said he’s still in the process of putting the finishing touches on the club’s interior and sounds systems.

1/3

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Uncompensated Care Costs Local Hospitals $102 Million — While discussing health care on a local TV interview show earlier this week, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) cited a figure that seemed unbelievable. Moran said that in our congressional district alone, hospitals spend more than $100 million per year paying for those who don’t have insurance or can’t pay the bills. That figure appears to be accurate, says TBD’s Facts Machine.

Lawmakers Outline Priorities — Arlington’s state lawmakers discussed their priorities for the 2011 legislative session earlier this week. Proposals include eliminating the sales tax on food and replacing it with a higher income tax for the wealthy, increasing the state’s low cigarette tax and setting more stringent requirements on petition drives. More from the Sun Gazette.

Leaf Bag Collection Enters Final Week — If you still have bags of leaves lying around, now is the time to get rid of them. Arlington County’s final leaf bag collection will begin Monday. See the collection schedule here.

Non-Stop Bhangra at Artisphere — Organizers describe it as a non-stop party that feels like a scene from a Bollywood movie. San Francisco-based Non-Stop Bhangra will be rocking the house at Artisphere’s Saturday Night Dance Party this weekend. The party starts at 11:01 p.m. and features dance lessons, dance performances, live music sets and “DJs spinning an eclectic mix of bhangra, hip hop, reggae and electronica.” More from Arlington Arts.

Flickr pool photo by Chris Rief

Saturday: Red Baraat Brings the Indian Funk to Artisphere

By ARLnow.com

Artisphere’s PR department says Red Baraat is the only dhol ‘n’ brass band in the U.S.

How there is only one domestic band that combines North Indian Bhangra and brass band funk is beyond us, especially considering the infectious energy that the culture-melding band brings to their shows.

New York-based Red Baraat features a rapping sousaphone player, three percussionists (counting the guy on cow bell), and a band leader whose collaborations have included performing with rapper Q-Tip and a fitness instructor known as “the Indian Jane Fonda.” That, combined with a five-piece horn section, produces a group that, in the words of the PR department, “plays fresh originals and Bollywood classics with an explosive stage performance and presence.”

Red Baraat is performing at Artisphere’s weekly Saturday night dance party this weekend. The performance will begin at 11:01 p.m. in the Artisphere ballroom. Tickets are $18 at the door, with sales starting one hour before showtime.

Free Salsa Lessons at The Salsa Room on Columbia Pike

By ARLnow.com

What better place is there to learn how to salsa than The Salsa Room on Columbia Pike? It’s a natural choice, like ordering cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.

Now thanks to one of our marketing partners, you can now get salsa lessons for free while mingling with D.C. area professionals.

Local group buying web site So What’s the Deal is offering the two hour, $10 dance lessons for $2. But why pay anything at all? Email [email protected] and get a coupon code to make your ticket free.

The dance lessons, organized by the networking group Professionals in the City, will take place from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 18. Beginner and intermediate dancers are welcome.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Earmark Could Save Planetarium — Rep. Jim Moran says he’s going to try to dig up $400,000 in federal funds to help renovate and save Arlington’s David M. Brown Planetarium. But even if he’s successful, Moran’s press secretary says the money would not be available until late next year — past the fundraising deadline the school board set for the non-profit Friends of the Planetarium group. More from the Sun Gazette.

Golf Farce Premieres at Signature Theater — Now playing at Shirlington’s Signature Theater: A Fox on the Fairway. The show, which is making its world premiere at Signature, is a “screwball comedy” and “a tribute… to the great English farces of the 1930s and 1940s.” Starring Jeff McCarthy, Holly Twyford and Andrew Long, A Fox on the Fairway is “about love, life, and man’s eternal love affair with… golf.” See a video promo here.

Sushi Rock Applying for Dance Hall Permit — Sushi Rock wants to become a late night party spot. But it also wants to “keep the volume to a reasonable level,” which means lots of sound-proofing material. The county board is expected to decide whether to grant Sushi Rock a live entertainment and dance hall permit at its upcoming round of meetings — either Saturday or Tuesday. More from TBD.

Gay Square Dance Club Offers Lessons in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Square dancing isn’t just for straight people dressed in goofy outfits anymore. It’s also for gay people dressed in goofy outfits.

Now, DC’s top gay and lesbian (and “straight-friendly”) square dancing club is offering lessons in Arlington. On Saturdays starting on Oct. 9, the DC Lambda Squares club will teach you the fine art of spinning one’s partner round and round.

It’s a beginners class, but it’s not for the faint of heart. Lessons run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break. A total of four classes will be held, on Oct. 9, 16, 30 and on Nov.6.

The classes are taught in the party room of the Barkley Condominiums at 1016 S. Wayne Street.

The $155 class fee covers club membership for a year and free registration for the Harvest Festival Hoedown, held from Nov. 12-14 in York, Pa.

For those who want to take the next step, plus-level classes will start on Nov. 20.

Anyone interested should email membership[at]dclambdasquares.org.

Photo via DC Lambda Squares

Complaint of the Day: Dancing in the Street Edition

By ARLnow.com

Dancing in the street sounds like a fun, whimsical way to work off some extra energy on a beautiful, non-stormy summer evening. But it can also be a traffic hazard! Just ask the citizen who alerted police to the two juvenile males breakdancing in the middle of the 1900 block of North George Mason Drive, near Virginia Hospital Center.

Martha and the Vandellas would approve of letting loose in the public right-of-way, but Johnny Law dutifully responded to the area to tell the b-boy punks to move on.

Unanswered question: Wouldn’t breakdancing on asphalt hurt?

Artisphere Will Be a Dance Venue

By ARLnow.com

Arlington officials took select members of the media (read: not us) on a hard hat tour of the still under-construction Artisphere last night.

In her write-up of the tour, the Washington Post’s Jacqueline Trescott is skeptical of the county’s ability to finish the project in time for its scheduled October 10 opening.

Trescott then describes Artisphere’s effort to attract a younger demographic. Among the plans for getting 20-to-45-year-olds to participate in the arts: dancing.

Built into the programming, [Arlington cultural affairs chief Norma] Kaplan said, will be opportunities for interaction with the artists. “We are trying to attract audiences that normally don’t come into a cultural center,” she said. One idea is to have late-night dances, with regional bands, on the weekends.

The ballroom will have regular nights for salsa, swing and social dance, and Kaplan said she expected it to draw a crowd. “There will be live music 90 percent of the time. Dance is very popular in this area, but there aren’t a lot of ballrooms,” she said, describing the retractable bandstand as a “Murphy bed stage” in what is believed to be the second-largest dance floor in the area after Glen Echo Park.

Read more from the Washington Post.

To Do This Weekend: Caps Fan Fest & Colombia National Day

By ARLnow.com

On a humid, 90 degree day, a trip to Ballston to celebrate a sport that’s played on ice could make for a nice diversion. If you agree with that statement, then Saturday’s Caps Fan Fest at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex (627 North Glebe Road) may be for you.

The event will kick off at 8:00 a.m. with a free open skate, followed by a development camp scrimmage at 10:00. There will also be airbrush artists, face painters, moon bounce, obstacle course, street hockey and an equipment sale. Brooks Laich and “select draft picks” will be signing autographs after the scrimmage.

If hockey isn’t your thing, but eating and dancing is, you may want to check out the 22nd Colombia National Day Celebration.The event will feature Colombian folkloric dance and musical groups as well as a variety of Colombian food. Some of the performers will be flown in from Bogota and Miami for the occasion.

The celebration is taking place from noon to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday at the Gunston Arts Center Theater One (2700 S. Lang Street). Tickets cost $15 for anyone over the age of 12.

For more great events this weekend, check out our events calendar.

View More Stories