The music is still playing but nobody’s dancing!
Sailor’s Lounge in Hurlingham
There was a time you used to go to a club to dance till the cock crows. That, it seems, is literally being squeezed out of clubs to make way for sitting space.
In an attempt to maximise on the profits and minimise on the losses, a majority of the clubs want you to drink more and dance less, or not dance at all. Enter most of the Nairobi clubs and you will see patrons dancing on their seats since the only space left is a path for the waiters to serve you.
This new trend of clubbing in Kenya has just about killed the dance floor and, in its wake, comes in the lounge. Lots of drinking joints that are coming up now have more space for comfort than the usual large space for dancing.
They have been pulling crowds too. Every time a new lounge is opened, which is almost monthly, word spreads like bush fire and every party goer goes to lounge.
Although some lounges have been existing, even though not very popular, you have to give it to some like Bacchus Lounge and Rezorus’ Mint Lounge for opening up the way for more lounges. And the fire is catching on fast.
In Nairobi, several joints like Skylux Lounge in Westlands, Sailors in Hurlingham, Galileos in Westlands, Blixx Lounge in Karen, Asiros Lounge at Wilson Airport, are helping set the standards.
In Thika, joints like Zinc and Coco Base have adapted to the culture. In Eldoret, ‘Club Signature’ is a good example and, in Mombasa, Bella Vista has reduced the dancing floor to a lounge area, where revellers can just sit and enjoy themselves all night.
Stella Ominde, a Nairobi reveller, thinks that it’s better being in a lounge than in a normal club with large stools and lots of dancing space.
“In a lounge, you can sit the way you want and enjoy being there all night because of the comfort,” says Stella.
According to club owners and managers, the sudden change has been made in order to meet revellers’ demands.
Amor Thige, a co-director of Bacchus, Skylux and Capri 7 lounges, believes that clubbing culture must follow the international standards and lounges have filled the gap that existed.
“In the US and the UK, lounges are the in-thing and I felt that Kenya should not be left behind,” says Amor, who was living in the US before coming back to Kenya recently. He says that it was tough before people accepted the culture fully.
“At first, revellers did not understand why the dancing space was so small yet we encouraged them to sit, but now, that’s the lifestyle. Skylux is not a club but a bigger lounge, where people sit comfortably and enjoy their night out, but also listen to clubbing music. Even the smoking area is more of a lounge,” explains Amor.
Other joints echo the same culture. At Sailors, a new joint in Hurlingham, it’s divided into three floors. On the ground floor is the cash bar and more of a coffee and food restaurant.
On the upper floor is a full lounge while the lower ground floor is the dancing area. Funny enough, on busy days like Friday and Saturday, the dancefloor is barely visible since revellers sit all over the place.
Rangers restaurant in Lang’ata has also made their bar a lounge and a dance floor is almost non-existent. According to Bevon Situma, associated with Rangers, Sailors and Rezorus clubs, as far as management is concerned, people spend more in lounges than in normal clubs.
“If you bring your girl into a lounge and sit comfortably, it’s always better and you spend more compared to having those long bar stools that make you uncomfortable,” explains Bevon.
However, a few clubs have maintained dance floors in their clubs. Very good examples are the Carnivore and Florida Clubs. According to Graham Katana, Florida Group’s entertainment manager, the dance floors are yet to die.
“The Mututho laws are clear that night clubs are the ones with complete dance floors of a certain size, which we have in our clubs,” he says.
“Most of the lounges will eventually have to follow this rule if they want to be categorised as discotheques.”
