This past weekend saw a stretch of intense partying for at least 2/3rds of your QPDX crew, so pardon us while we recover momentarily and start summing all of this weekend’s great events for you! Starting off the night on Friday was Portland’s newest lesbian dance night-CRAVE.
Crave - Monthly lesbian dance party at Crush
I had a chance to stop by on Friday and speak with some of the organizers, dancers and partiers in attendance, and if the clubgoers satisfaction is the best gauge of a party, then Crave is already a hit. Held at one of my favourite bars in Portland, Crush, Crave is a “stylish, fashionable, hip, themed dance party with lovely, sexy ladies, geared towards the 21-40 crowd who appreciate beautiful women”, according to organizer Mirage. And while the stated upper age limit of 40 is a bit high (I barely saw anybody into their 30’s), Crave delivers on the promise of themed nights, pumping dance music and enthusiastic dancers. “It’s a great party,” dancer Piper told me outside, “everyone is having fun, getting down. I love the vibe, it’s awesome”, and party attendees I spoke to echoed the same sentiments. “The music is pumpin,” my friend Byz said, ” The girls are hot, the drinks keep coming, it’s awesome.”
Last Friday’s theme was “Wet”, featuring lube wrestling (which was more like a lube performance, but still fun to watch) and powerful squirt guns…the power of which I experienced first hand when some young whippersnapper shot me in the ear! But a speedy beer from the lovely barstaff helped (hello, you! <3), and the hot atmosphere in the club did the rest. People were getting down on the floor and definitely enjoying their night, and even though the door price of $7 is probably the spendiest in Portland for a re-occurring lesbian night, Crave was almost pushing at the upper limit of Crush’s capacity, with 250 people filling the 300 person space. Crave is certainly geared more towards the trendier lesbian crowd in Portland, and may be too young and too hip for some, but it’s good to see some competition shake up the stale old E-Room-and-Holocene circuit that has been persisting in Portland for the last few years. Despite its success, the event is unlikely to move or go bi-monthly just yet. “We love Crush,” Mirage gushes, “It’s a great venue with a great atmosphere. We’re the only event in town that is themed this way from month to month, and draws the kinds of crowds that we do, and if people have to get hear early to get in and join the fun, so be it.” So be it then. It seems like PDX lesbians already have a Crush on Crave!
this blog is fabulous. thanks for helping me keep informed about all the queerness happening in pdx. i <3 it.
i was wondering if you could tell me how genderqueer/trans friendly Crave is…
thanks!
hey brazil, lgad you like our blog! Crave seems to be geared a bit more towards the younger, hipper, lesbian crowd as opposed to other nights such as blow pony or holocene nights where there is a bit more of a queer/trans/genderqueer friendly vibe.
I doubt you’d get any hassle if you went though. good luck!
thanks perry, i appreciate the response. i think its important to have those types of spaces/events too…. just wondered what to expect if i decided to go…
Hi Perry! (and everyone at QPDX)
Thank you so much for the overwhelmingly positive review of Crave! We have a blast organizing Crave every month and it’s great to know that all of our hard work is paying off! The better it gets, the better it gets!
To Brazil –
I want to confirm Crave’s inclusiveness of the trans/genderqueer community! The party is marketed as a ‘ladies dance party’ – a place for women of ALL orientations and gender identities to feel comfortable and have fun! Please come see for yourself =)
Mirage
Producer of Crave Dance Party
http://www.myspace.com/cravepdxxx
I think this is a really interesting conversation topic about “women’s” nights and inclusiveness. As a genderqueer identified person, I tend not to attend events that are marketed with language such as “ladies dance party.” So even if you claim as an after-thought that it’s trans inclusive, the language that you use to market the event contradicts this.
Also, this might be nit-picky, but being inclusive of “women of all orientations & gender identities” isn’t inclusive to genderqueer & trans-folks who don’t identify as women. Which, fair enough, I don’t think that all nights necessarily have to include everyone. I think its okay to be honest like “yeah, this is a dyke night and if you dont identify as a dyke it might not be for you.”
There are so many different subsets of our community and we don’t even have the language to describe ourselves half the time, so carving out queer specific-space while also being inclusive of all the folks around the edges of the community, can be super challenging. I guess I just default to the word Queer when promoting events because it feels the most inclusive to me but, i suppose my events are marketed to a different community of folks then Crave hits.
thanks for your input, max.
i think it’s always important to keep talking about this stuff-there are so many different levels of knowledge and self-knowledge that exist among people who are not “hetero”…what constitutes queer? How do we create spaces from people of different gender expressions to co-exist?
i don’t id as a woman per se either, and i did attend crave in boy-drag. I didn’t get the vibe that I was unwelcome there at all, but of course the actual vibe of an event may be different than the way an event is marketed, and that reflects back on the clientele it attracts, just as you mentioned.