Canada’s nightclub life facing an identity crisis

Virus is forcing venues with a dance floor to rethink how they operate

Paisley Nahanee is longing for those exhilarating club nights, the ones where bumping into a few old friends on the dance floor wasn’t considered a health risk.

But when the disc jockey and event organizer throws a couple of parties at Vancouver’s Pride festivities this weekend, nobody will be making close encounters beneath the disco light, under orders from British Columbia health officials.

“This is going be really different,” Nahanee said of two physically distanced Level Up! events that are restricted to outdoor seating of 50 people.

Instead of crowds numbering in the hundreds, guests can reserve tickets for up to six of their friends on the patio. Together, they’ll congregate in their circle — or “pod” — for a two-hour window before making way for the next round of partiers.

It’s regimented, but for Nahanee, at least it’s happening.

“Partygoers just have to change their expectations,” she said. “You’re not going to meet any new friends.”

Aprovince-wide ban on dance floors went into effect in B.C. last week after several COVID-19 cases linked to bars and clubs raised concerns over close contact.

Club operators in B.C. aren’t alone either. In in Montreal nightclubs are back in business without dance floors and with limited capacity.

Morgan Deane, a New Yorkbased expert in the clubbing industry, has called for a widespread reckoning with the future of nightlife.

“Everyone’s still operating in this modality of when COVID is over, everything will go back to normal,” she said. “Things are not going back to normal.”

Deane, who’s spent more than 15 years helping launch new venues and run electronic music festivals, wants to see club owners stop seeking temporary fixes and instead look at “completely reimagining” their business. Her online guide, “A Light in the Night,” encourages standard practices such as enhanced cleaning and wearing masks, as well as mandatory temperature checks for all staff.

In the VIP section, the guide suggests alcohol be stored in a “bottle cage” that’s only accessible by the service staff to minimize contact. The new practice would add a barrier to the typical VIP experience where clubgoers shell out big bucks to pour from expensive bottles of liquor at will.

On the dance floor, various distancing measures could separate partiers, including circles on the floor that isolate dancers from each other and a double rope that keeps two metres separation from the seated area to prevent overspill.

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases expert at Toronto General Hospital, said the guidelines outlined by Deane are well thought out, although he’s still concerned about how they would fare in a real-world setting.

Many people still assume that masks are a fail-proof barrier, and Bogoch worries that could play out in the clubs. “Masks might provide a little bit of benefit but not as much as people think,” he said. “They forget that physical distancing is really driving it.”

“Partygoers just have to change their expectations. You’re not going to meet any new friends.”

PAISLEY NAHANEE EVENT ORGANIZER