U Weekly. Serving The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio

Club Ice gets muy caliente

By Mollie Wells

Wander into the back room of Club Ice on any given Thursday – past the parking lot, under the blue awning – and you’ll be privy to one of downtown’s most fiery hidden gems. In fact, you’ll probably hear the echoes of it from several paces away, the pounding rhythms of salsa, merengue and borchata wafting over the patchwork alleys like heat sent to dull a bitter frost. Welcome to Columbus’ premier Latin dance party. Welcome to Babalú.

Dancers salsa the night away at Club Ice. Photo by jeff mills/UW

”The Spanish community is growing and growing and growing,” said event coordinator Juan Carlos Polanco. “We’ve been trying to bring [this] to Ohio for the past two years, just a nice club where people are dressing really nice, people who really enjoy live music.”

Organized by Polanco and his partner Shezronne Zaccardi, Babalú officially started its weekly run at Club Ice in late September. Get there early (about 10 p.m., early by Columbus standards), and you’ll get a chance to practice your dance moves with instructors there to show you the sometimes complicated ropes of cha-cha, salsa and merengue. But once the clock rolls around to 10:30 and the lights go dim, you’re on your own; the disco ball starts spinning, local band Yumbambé takes the stage and hardly a single body is found off the dance floor. The moves are just too irresistible.

“Salsa is a really, really classic dance,” Polanco explained. “It’s sexy, it’s nice. And this is a really nice club, you’re never gonna have anybody really drunk and trying to start a fight.”

Zaccardi agrees that Babalú, for all its typical dance-club atmosphere, brings a certain non-threatening element to Columbus nightlife. “It’s like a big Cheers,” she said. “Everybody gets to know everyone. [It’s a way to] go out with the girls, go out with the guys and not be harassed, not be groped on.”

While Babalú certainly isn’t Columbus’ first or only Latin night, it’s definitely the most honest. There’s no sense of kitsch or novelty, absolutely no notion of cultural exploitation. Babalú isn’t merely a pet project for white people who find culture to be cute; it is explicitly in place to serve the wildly growing Latin community. And it’s starting to get huge.

“Building up takes time, just to get the word and the buzz going,” Zaccardi said. “But if we get enough community support, it can potentially be something great.”

Check out Babalú at Club Ice every Thursday at 10 p.m.

Originally Published: October 25, 2006

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