Preview: BENT - A New LGBTQ Dance Party
Just weeks after the very walls of the beloved gay danceboutique Town were demolished, IMP will hold an LGBT dance party this Saturday, January 5 to pick up right where the beloved club left off for a night of performances, glitter and lively music. After the decade-old institution closed during the summer of 2017, D.C.’s queer community is in need of a large enough venue to fill with joy and the inevitable vogueing in a space that is not only accepting, but feels like family.
BENT will be a quarterly event positioned to compliment the annual slate of dance parties that are already an institutional part of the IMP calendar. Aimed at showcasing the community of performers on the stacked roster, BENT’s organizer and featured DJ Steve Lemmerman hopes to provide the DMV’s queer community a space to be celebrated and for featured talent to be given a chance to play a venue as iconic as 9:30 Club.
Lemmerman, also known by his DJ alias “Lemz,” hopes to make the experience magical, all as a part of creating a new community of attendees. In an interview with Metro Weekly, Lemmerman said of the event,
“We’re launching Bent because D.C.’s gay community kind of needs a big platform, and 9:30 Club is the place to do it. You know you can be safe at 9:30 as a person in the queer community, and as just a fan of any specific kind of music. It’s a perfect opportunity to showcase our queer community to a larger audience, and have a large home for our community at the same time. That was the inspiration: to just give so much more to our queer community.”
The event will take up both floors of the 9:30 Club and will transform the venue in ways that regulars haven't ever seen before - no spoilers, but for starters, there will be a runway. Don’t miss this stacked showcase of performers, featuring DJs Lemz, KeenanOrr, The Barber Streisand, Pussy Noir, Donna Slash, Bombalicious Eklaver and many other surprises.
Skip the #FOMO and join the community at the inaugural BENT party this Saturday night!