Club Europe,
Every Sunday, Latin Sunday by Flamingo Productions

June 29, 2003

Sundays after our salsa "descarga" at Piedmont Park, I'm always wanting for more dancing. I do a couple of Salsa Atlanta's rueda classes, but am still left hankering for a real taste of getting down in a club setting. 6/22 I took that hankering on over to Club Europe in the CBS building near Spaghetti Junction.

Mention of the club has not been burning up the word of mouth circuit lately so I wasn't sure what to expect. On my last visit months ago, Kazoo's Sunday night "swan song" was still playing out its last painful notes. The audience of regular dancers on the Atlanta scene was split so that not enough were in one location or the other to ensure there'd be fun people to dance with if you went out solo. Many just gave up on going out to dance on Sunday nights all together, and we sat for nearly two hours at Europe in an overwhelmingly male crowd who seemed too shy to approach women on their own. ("Snooze-fest"!) The d.j. here played about 75% of bachata and merengue. It was oddly the opposite of what we usually see in the clubs, the salsa was just a little something to do in between waiting for another merengue set.

As you know, this reviewer does not have a lean towards salsa over these other two dances as much as many other salseros on our scene do, but this night the range of music was at a mixture much more to my liking. I made plans to meet up with a guy friend to make sure I'd have someone to dance with, but that didn't turn out to be a real problem. I was surprised to see a small handful of "The Usual Suspects" out on the floor. Many of the ones I talked with though told me this wasn't a regular outing for them, they just happened to be there this particular night. So I'm not sure if the club is enjoying the beginnings of a resurgence, or I just happened to catch it on a good night. But a good night it was nonetheless. I danced with partners I knew, and there was no lack of cool guys to dance with among those I didn't know. Just to be safe though, I recommend you go with a partner or group if you haven't been for a while. Especially if you're the type that is hesitant about asking for dances. There was also enough of a sprinkling of club folk who didn't dance salsa but were just there to enjoy the music to keep it from feeling stale.

There's always plenty of room on the dance floor at Club Europe. I heard that many dancers had a complaint about the floor back when the place was more popular, but I don't have any at all. They do have that dim, "disco ball" swirling dots of light thing happening over there though. Not having great night vision, this messes with my equilibrium big time. So if you ever see me there having fallen on the floor, know that it won't necessarily be because I was toasted--I just can't see much more than two inches beyond my face.

The mix of music was right on the nose for me, the mix of people was right on the nose for some Sunday night "get-yo'-last-dance-on!" kind of action. I like that there's ample comfortable sitting space at Club Europe, and the dance floor is visible from most of it. Drinks are priced to move and the bar staff here is the friendliest of all the latin dance joints in my book. (It might have to do with it not being a ridiculously busy night though.) Plenty of parking, only a five dollar cover, and I think under 21's are allowed in but simply unable to imbibe.

I give this scene a happy face sticker. But like I said earlier, I'm not sure if it's just a hit-or-miss deal or the joint is really coming back. One never knows, do one?

See ya' out!

Nanette