At The Club

While in Abidjan I met many of the family’s friends and we spent a lot of time with one couple in particular, who are their very good friends. We spent time with them at their very nice home and one night we went out with them to a club. Everyone knows that I’m not really a club person but I figured it was something I wanted to see while in Abidjan, and I’m glad that I did.
The club was set up with lots of furnished areas to sit, a dance floor, and clearly a bar. I honestly could count may be three people in the whole place smoking, that was nice. Then there was a huge mirror on one side of the dance floor and most of the girls dancing all night were glued to the mirror, like they were 12 dancing at home in their bedrooms. My friend explained that if the clubs don’t hang mirrors around the dance floor that people will not come to dance and the club will eventually close. There were ample fans and so you weren’t hot dancing or sitting. I also noticed that the men weren’t hitting on the women and the women didn’t seem like they were there to get a man. Everyone was there to have fun with their friends and that was all. It was nice. I do have to make sure I tell you about the bathroom. It was clean for African and most club standards in America too, but the one thing that cracked me up was the soap dispenser was not filled with soap, but rather there were about 20 dead bug bodies in the empty soap dispenser. Talk about contradiction.
The music in Abidjan seemed to be programmed in blocks on the radio, the TV, and in the club also. The first hour was Salsa music. I promise you I saw some of the best Salsa dancers that I’ve ever seen in my life on that dance floor. People here in West Africa LOVE Salsa music, and dancing and it’s clear that some of them practice a lot.
The next hour was Hip Hop, and the next African line dancing. Now I can electric slide with the best of them but the African version isn’t so easy. I couldn’t even follow because not everyone knew what they’re doing so I couldn’t really follow anyone around me or blend very easily. Ok, I realize blending as the only white girl in the place isn’t possible, but at least not being the sore thumb would have been nice.
At about 2am the dance floor cleared and everyone took their seats. There was going to be a show. These two men came out and sang and danced. I admired their paintball splattered shirt/jackets and their dress pants that had been altered to look like the skinny pants that are popular in the States. Then they topped off their ensemble with pointed dress shoes and 80’s sunglasses. I thoroughly enjoyed the show.
So, my official summary of the evening and wee hours of the morning would have to be it was most enjoyable and I wish more of my club experiences were more like this one.