We spoke to Ceréna of Club Quarantine all about the exciting platform that brings together music, dance and the queer community in a virtual world. Through the use of zoom, the Club Quarantine collective has grown quickly as they now have over 67k followers on Instagram. With the absence of clubs and nightlife during lockdown, Ceréna explains how “nightlife is our church, the one place we can be free and exist without the fear of judgement and our safety”, which is the main reason CQ came about. Read on to hear more about the Club Quarantine experience and what they have in store for us in 2021!

As the name suggests, Club Quarantine was initially started during strict lockdown - but how did the idea come about?

A few days before the impending lockdown, we hopped on an Instagram group video chat with 6 people for a kiki. We wanted to see more people and someone suggested we all download Zoom. The first party we threw was on March 15, someone drunkenly made the @clubquarantine account and we got 1000 followers over night. The rest is herstory.

How exactly does Club Quarantine work?

Originally, we ran everyday. 8 parties a week with DJs + a visual performer. Now our parties run every Friday from 9pm-midnight EST. We drop the code on our socials and that’s it! I you want to know more, come and find out… ;)

You bring together the queer community through music and dance - what influenced this audience?

Club Quarantine was created by queer people. Nightlife is our church, the one place we can be free and exist without the fear of judgement and our safety. Lockdown forced us to find another way to connect with each other and that is why everything fell in place so organically. It came from a true place and the desire for community.

Past hosts have included Lady Gaga and Charli XCX - how did this come about?

We went viral, and this caught the attention of a lot of people. At a time when the world made a full stop and nobody was creating anything, Club Q came out of nowhere and touched people, creating an interactive experience where one can actually engage and connect with the community. Everyone wanted to be a part of the moment and through this notoriety is how we connected with so many big artists.

What responses have you gotten from your viewers about the platform?

We never could have imagined how Club Quarantine would mean to so many people. Disabled people in our community have expressed their gratitude for making nightlife accessible to them, people in queer-phobic living situations were coming to us for refuge. Visibility is so important and seeing others who look like you make you feel like you’re not alone… helps you to keep going. I recommend watching the NYT Op-Docs by Aurora Brachman (a Club Q regular) that paints this beautifully.

If Club Quarantine existed irl, how would it differ?

When Club Quarantine makes its way to the irl, it will always be connected to the url. Accessibility to our space is key.

What is next for Club Quarantine?

We’ve got some really cool collaborations happening in 2021 to further push what virtual nightlife could look like. Stay tuned.