Dance Party

On a Saturday evening in June, the dance floor at Santa Monica's Central Social Aid & Pleasure Club was packed with patrons enthusiastically dancing, singing and doing call-and-response with the DJ. It's a scene that could have been unfolding on umpteen dance floors across the city, but in this case, something very different was going on. The cool-kid crowd was moving and grooving to silence. Or so it seemed. Actually, the revelers were taking part in a phenomenon known as "silent disco," a dance party where the booming music is both private and shared.

There may be no place in Los Angeles with a higher coolness-per-square-foot ratio than the Highland Park store Mount Analog . The music/fashion/sundries boutique on Figueroa St. is L.A.'s general store for noise-punk tapes, occultist supplies and home decor for the Illuminati enthusiast. But occasionally it expands its reach with old-fashioned club nights. Nuit Noire is a sporadic private party series that the store's owners host, featuring live acts and DJ sets from the globe's best goth-inclined electro and house producers.

The clean, crisp modern lines of "Tron" have been replaced by the chaotic, rose-colored acid trip of "Alice in Wonderland," but outside of an extensive cosmetic makeover, little has changed now that Disney California Adventure has rethemed its nightly dance party from ElecTRONica   to the Mad T Party. PHOTOS: Mad T Party at Disney California Adventure The shiny new look seems tailor-made for the short attention spans of the wall-to-wall under-25 crowd of mostly high school and college kids who have made the alcohol-infused and music-centric outdoor rave a wildly popular success at the Anaheim theme park.

There might be no richer musical irony than hearing Pulp play "Common People" onboard a luxury cruise liner. A Brit pop laceration of slumming art-school dilettantes performed to a room full of absolutely hammered music-biz wheeler-dealers en route to the Bahamas. The song is part of a rich seam of accidental poignance aboard the S.S. Coachella. A certain level of self-awareness is necessary to keep your bearings out here because the S.S. Coachella is primarily populated by the L.A. music industry's one-percenters descending into pure indulgence.

The word "brunch" doesn't usually conjure images of overflowing magnums of champagne, dizzying house music and a designated driver. But that's how summer is shaping up. A summer wave of Los Angeles hospitality, rooted in the ever-escalating standards of supper club service, is inviting you to burn the midnight oil in broad daylight with a fresh take on the weekend brunch: a celebratory meal that transitions seamlessly into a nightclub-style dance...

There may be no place in Los Angeles with a higher coolness-per-square-foot ratio than the Highland Park store Mount Analog . The music/fashion/sundries boutique on Figueroa St. is L.A.'s general store for noise-punk tapes, occultist supplies and home decor for the Illuminati enthusiast. But occasionally it expands its reach with old-fashioned club nights. Nuit Noire is a sporadic private party series that the store's owners host, featuring live acts and DJ sets from the globe's best goth-inclined electro and house producers.

Promoter David J. Gaar of Westminster is changing the location of the Cajun-zydeco dance parties he has been throwing on the third Saturday of each month. Starting with a Bad Boys Zydeco Band gig March 21, the place will change from the Sunset Beach Club in Orange to the Meadowlark Cafe, 6197 Ball Road, Cypress. Coming attractions include the Joe Simien Cajun Band, April 18; John Delafose & the Eunice Playboys, May 17, and the Cheryl Cormier Cajun Band, June 20.

The Afro-Cuban All Stars turned their Royce Hall concert Tuesday into an usher's nightmare. The dazzling 17-member orchestra had the entire audience on its feet, with couples dancing in the aisles and on the balconies. By the end, with the house lights up, it felt as if a big party had broken out on a school night at UCLA's stately theater. Normally it's frustrating to watch salsa bands in a concert setting because there's no place to dance, and ushers try to keep the aisles clear.

Thax is back! If that name's ringing a bell with you, you're old enough to recall the man with the dance party -- "The Lloyd Thaxton Show" -- who attempted to dethrone "American Bandstand's" Dick Clark. For eight years during the '60s, Thaxton, a popular Los Angeles DJ, was host of the entertaining, albeit schmaltzy, local show. His signature? At least once on every show, he lip-synced popular songs, hamming it up. "People started calling me a musical Ernie Kovacs," recalls Thaxton, now 75.

Let's merengue! Or maybe the jitterbug is more your style. How about the two-step or salsa? Don't worry if you've never boogied to country, swing or Cuban tunes. Here's your chance to learn in a party atmosphere with great music. Each Friday and Saturday through August, Universal CityWalk will hold free dance lessons and provide live music on the east end adjacent to Hard Rock Cafe.

The morning after a Subsuelo dance party, it may be hard to recall the precise moment when everybody in the room started moving to the beat as a single organism. It could have occurred while flamenco artist Cristina Lucio tapped out neo-baroque rhythms with her feet as she glided across the length of the bar-top. Or when a guest DJ threw down some bodacious tropical groove or cumbia/hip-hop mashup, and a pair of congueros and a trombone player popped up in the middle of the room and started jamming.

Fans of Tucson desert-noir band Calexico no doubt went home disappointed Wednesday night as an electrical outage apparently caused by a mischievous animal in a substation left the Henry Fonda Theater in the dark. Still, you can't accuse the band of not trying. Before the show was called off, bandleader Joey Burns took the stage with an indeterminate number of musicians (it was dark, after all) to lead the band through a very unplugged version of the live staple "Minas de Cobre" backed by accordion and mariachi horns.

Hundreds of masked dancers haunt Hyde on Oct. 28 with the return of the XIV Vegas Sessions - this time themed for Halloween. Presented by nightlife giant SBE (the brains behind a dozen L.A. hot spots), this monthly dusk-to-dawn dance party morphs into an after-hours fantasyland with glow-in-the-dark go-go dancers, champagne showers and neon cocktails. Past themes have included “Candy Carnival” where servers wore only sweets - so expect plenty of adults-only tricks and treats. - Jamie Wetherbe, Custom Publishing Writer   Hyde at Bellagio 3600 Las Vegas Blvd.

SQUAW VALLEY, Calif. - On a crisp summer night, beneath a bright half-moon that illuminates the cliffs of Squaw Valley's dramatic Tram Face, MC Yogi, a yoga teacher and DJ from San Francisco, exhorts a crowd of several thousand: "Take a deep breath and let it all out. " Then, "Say namaste! " The crowd, which had been doing both all day long, does them again. But this time they also raise a collective glass and call out with enthusiasm not usually displayed by a bunch of lithe-bodied Lululemon-clad yoginis.

As a great, global ritual in which the nations of the world beat their swords into javelins and pole-vault poles, sublimating national rivalries, religious differences and warlike spirits into friendly athletic competition, the Olympic Games demand to end not with a whimper but a bang. It is not enough to leave a note asking the last one out of the stadium to please turn off the flame. Titled "A Symphony of British Music," Sunday night's closing ceremony-cum-dance-party was a color-coordinated parade of illustrated pop songs, some that will have been less than familiar to foreign listeners, some worldwide hits, but most of them so deeply ingrained into the modern British consciousness as to be extricable only by surgery.

The word "brunch" doesn't usually conjure images of overflowing magnums of champagne, dizzying house music and a designated driver. But that's how summer is shaping up. A summer wave of Los Angeles hospitality, rooted in the ever-escalating standards of supper club service, is inviting you to burn the midnight oil in broad daylight with a fresh take on the weekend brunch: a celebratory meal that transitions seamlessly into a nightclub-style dance...

Silent Disco Where: Central Social Aid & Pleasure Club, 1348 14th St., Santa Monica When: 9 p.m. Friday Price: $10 (plus $3.68 service charge) presale; $12 at the door Info: (310) 451-5040; http://www.centralsapc.com Where: Sunset Strip Music Festival, Sunset Boulevard between Doheny Drive and San Vicente Boulevard When: 1 to 10 p.m. Saturday Price: $55 in advance, $70 that day; $120 VIP with access to private lounges Info: http://www.sunsetstripmusicfestival.com

The morning after a Subsuelo dance party, it may be hard to recall the precise moment when everybody in the room started moving to the beat as a single organism. It could have occurred while flamenco artist Cristina Lucio tapped out neo-baroque rhythms with her feet as she glided across the length of the bar-top. Or when a guest DJ threw down some bodacious tropical groove or cumbia/hip-hop mashup, and a pair of congueros and a trombone player popped up in the middle of the room and started jamming.

The clean, crisp modern lines of "Tron" have been replaced by the chaotic, rose-colored acid trip of "Alice in Wonderland," but outside of an extensive cosmetic makeover, little has changed now that Disney California Adventure has rethemed its nightly dance party from ElecTRONica   to the Mad T Party. PHOTOS: Mad T Party at Disney California Adventure The shiny new look seems tailor-made for the short attention spans of the wall-to-wall under-25 crowd of mostly high school and college kids who have made the alcohol-infused and music-centric outdoor rave a wildly popular success at the Anaheim theme park.

Cedar Point plans to turn the Ohio theme park's Million Dollar Midway into the $6-million Luminosity nighttime spectacular complete with lights, lasers and fireworks tied to a stage performance with DJs, dancers and drummers. PHOTOS: Luminosity nighttime spectacular at Cedar Point Debuting on June 8, the 40-minute Luminosity: Ignite the Night stage show will be followed by a pyrotechnics finale that leads into a DJ street party designed to turn the midway into an enormous dance floor.