When the doors opened for the sold-out, vintage-themed party Diga Diga Doo in Chinatown on Saturday night, partygoers were amazed.
The ballroom was decked out with a vintage barbershop in one corner, and a custom tailor straight out of the 1940s in another. The chrome on shiny white and mint-colored Vespas twinkled merrily under the dozen crystal chandeliers in the rarely-seen ballroom in Yaowarat’s Shanghai Mansion Boutique Hotel, where the party was held.
At the far end of the room was a curved stairway that led up to the balcony, where girls in frilly dresses posed for “Gone With The Wind”-style photos. The large, wooden stage boasted the setup for a renowned 7-piece Greek swing band, The Speakeasies.
In addition to the talent flown in for the event, including professional swing dancers from Argentina and South Korea and a burlesque dancer from Australia, many of the partygoers themselves had travelled great lengths for the party.
In the 300-person crowd were swing dancers and vintage aficionados from South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam who had come to Bangkok specifically for the event. And they were not disappointed.
Partygoer May Wacharaporn was all smiles when she walked into the ballroom with her bright red lips and her 1940s red-and-white print midi dress. “I feel like I’ve stepped into the past tonight. When I got out of the elevator and walked through the curtains, I got chills. It felt like a scene straight out of the movie ‘Swing Kids,” she said.
The party had garnered much buzz in Chinatown that night. Most likely because people kept pouring out of the MRT to flag down motos, tuk-tuks and taxis in their unusual old-fashioned ensembles. The cab drivers kept hearing “Shanghai Mansion” as the destination and couldn’t help but ask where all these people were going and why. When Wacharaporn jumped into her taxi, the cab driver already knew where she wanted to go.
“He told me that he loved the fashion and music of the 1930s and we talked about that time.” When they reached the hotel, he told her “Wait!” and jumped out of the cab to run around and open the door for her. “This is a classy event. Let me open the door for you so you look elegant,” the cabbie said.
Chivalry is not yet dead in Chinatown.
Englishman Sam Bradley is a regular on the swing dancing scene in Bangkok and he was chatting to some Malaysian swing dancers who had flown in specifically for the event.
“This is inspiring. It really injects some new energy to see all these new faces in the crowd tonight. Both people from Bangkok that are interested in this kind of stuff but are just getting started and people that came to Bangkok just for the party,” Sam said.
And what about the party itself? “It’s snazzmatazz!” he said. When asked to explain this interesting word, he described it as, “a mixture of cool, funky and fresh.”
The party was thrown by Bangkok Swing in conjunction with several sponsors including Vespa.
One of the swing dancers, Argentinian Juan Ignacio Villafane, was making his first trip to Bangkok though he regularly teaches in Asia. He was as excited about the party as he was about spending a few days exploring the city. What was on his agenda? “I’m going to see a Muay Thai fight and then I’m going to do some Muay Thai training! I’ve always wanted to do that, I’m so happy to be here!”
And the dancers were happy to have him. He and his dance partner, Sharon Davis, were teaching a series of sold-out workshops at Silom swing dancing club The Hop the following day.
At the beginning of the night, the classes still had several slots open. But after partygoers saw Juan and Sharon perform, a crowd formed around the table as people bought up the THB700 tickets for the workshops the following day. Hangovers be damned! The dancing would continue.
And continue it did. When we left the party at 1:30am it was still going strong and party organizer Oat Naviroj was overheard mentioning something about “watching the sunrise over Chinatown.”
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