Dance, Dance, Dance In The City of Light And Music

With a fairly recent re-do this iconic nightclub and preferred celebrity and international jetset watering-hole-when-in-Paris sports a marble dance floor. Its location at the top of the Champs-Elysées makes it an easy access for a night out on the town. The club’s updated look, completed in September 2014, was the vision of Lenny Kravitz, a Parisian celebrity who makes no secret of his love for the city. There are VIP loges for those who seek them out, and there’s even a fumoir so smokers need not scuttle outside into the night for their nicotine break. Cocktails, a good selection of music and the Arc de Triomphe round out the picture of this glamorous nightspot in the capital.

The décor here at this originally-named bar, one of the newer in the capital, is a scene straight out of From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, the movie by Quentin Tarantino. The French have an ongoing infatuation with all things Tarantino and this happening club now ranks as one of them. The smoking room is a big draw for the well-heeled Parisian youth who have latched onto the New York club vibe here, as is the tequila bar and the pool table. More of a Rock-n-Roll club and bar than a frou-frou club, the big moosehead hanging on the wall and the pinball machines scattered around the lounge area complete the picture.

This Champs-Elysées fixture has been forever on the Champs but it recently moved to a side street, just around the corner in fact from Fouquet’s. If you’ve heard of any nightclub in Paris it’s probably this one. This club has been going strong for decades and it still attracts the crowds. Crowds of crowds. It’s where you go when you want to drink, meet people and have fun in a thoroughly mixed and diverse setting of local and international youth of all ages. It’s open every night, too. The music is disco, funk, dance club with some of Paris’ most sought after DJs spinning regularly. Mondays hosts Disco Queen, Ladies Night is on Wednesdays and Fridays is House Electro.

Crowned as one of the more elite of the VIP clubs in Paris, this basement dance club plays hide and seek underneath the famous café-restaurant that is upstairs on the ground floor. The design trend in Paris today is a reincarnation of the 60s and 70s and this club plays to a ‘T’ its sexy 70s ethos. But then whatever interior designer Jacques Garcia puts his hand on seems to cry luxury. Call ahead to check their schedule as the club frequently hosts themed nights and special events in their animal print ambiance. And for the high rollers there are those designated VIP sections. Both the cocktails and the music here are above average and it’s most definitely one of the spots in Paris where you’ll find C-L-A-S-S.

This trendy dance club in the heart of Pigalle spins to a range of musical styles (disco, rap, R&B, soul, funk). It’s a great place to people-watch. This area has become known as SoPi or South Pigalle and is now nearly too trendy for the trendsters. No matter, the Bus Palladium has been here for decades and still offers a good rock-n-roll time. Its updated menu offers dishes named after famous (and infamous) song titles – Come Together, Welcome to The Jungle, With or Without You. If you’re not one who’s into dance clubbing, you can still enjoy this venue for its dinner and cocktails. METRO: Blanche (line 2), Pigalle (lines 2, 12), or Saint Georges (line 12)

To say that Crazy Horse is like any other Las Vegas review is just not doing it justice. These dancers, this choreography and the supremely innovative lighting that accompanies each act serve to transport you to a sort of world removed far far away from the daily grind. So go ahead, treat yourself. French choreographer Philippe Decouflé created the current-running show, Désirs, and the artistic direction is by Ali Mahdavi. Both are recognized in performing arts circles as being at the top of their game. The dancers, it must be noted, too, are like curated gems. Their talent and their form represent the pinnacle of beauty and this type of performance art.

The feeling here is something akin to a Russian noble’s hunting lodge, with its plush red upholstery, chandeliers and exposed wood beams. Once inside, you completely forget that you’re just off the Champs-Elysees. Club’s decor is listed on the inventory of historic monuments. It has gone in and out of favor with the local Parisian crowd over the decades and is currently very much back ‘in’. Cocktails, club, dancing. The sound is a mix by DJ Mika. The clientele ultra-trendy and you’ll find businessmen, politicians, celebrities and golden girls and boys frequenting this chic-est of Parisian nightclubs. True to its Russian roots, shots of ice-cold vodka are served all night long (until 5am).

This club and bar is located on a small St. Germain-des-Prés street and happens to be right next to Café Flore. Hence, it’s one of those clubs hidden in plain sight. It has the reputation of being ultra-exclusive and for the most part lives up to that reputation. The vaulted cellars in the basement is where all the fun happens after hours once the DJs start spinning. The bar upstairs is a great place to get warmed up. Expect to find bronzed beauties just back from St. Tropez here in the summertime and in winter this is where the ski bunnies take their break from the Courchevel slopes. It’s more of a cosy space at Le Montana so while the dance floor is ample, it’s not ginormous.

A newer spot that anchors the Left Bank, Wanderlust is the expansive terrace bar and club that perches atop the Cit� de la Mode et du Design. It’s worth finding your way over to this Quai d’Austerlitz complex that houses a fashion museum, cool cafes and shops below, and this restaurant-bar-terrace-club up on its top floor. There is also N�ba, up here on the rooftop of Les Docks, offering open-air dance music. Wanderlust is run by the same team that runs Silencio, the David Lynch imagined club and Social Club, both hot venues in their own right. The dance club part of the programming happens only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 11pm onwards and goes until 6am. The terrace overlooking the Seine, as the building was constructed right along the Seine, is a magnificent 1600M2, the size of a small factory. Music is electro, new disco, house.

What better backdrop to dance the night away against than the City of Light itself?! This luxury coach ferries you and your likeminded party revelers all across Paris and back again while you dance to the beat. It goes something like this: check their listings to see when the scheduled dance nights are for Paris and the meeting point (always in central Paris). Show up with yourself and or a group of friends. Dress like you would to go out to any night club and voila, you have yourself a fun evening full of dance moves and sightseeing. The moveable-dance-feast discotheque takes you on a ride from the Place de la Concorde, past Madeleine, up towards the Arc de Triomphe, over to Trocadero, down past the Eiffel Tower and then over towards Notre Dame and more. In other words, the city’s best sights come with the price of entry.