Worldwide Dance - Popoff Kitchen

Where does your love of music and nightlife come from? What inspired you to take this path in life? Is your family musical at all?

It started years ago from Moscow nightclub Arma17 where I discovered my curiosity in techno music. Then was 2 years of working as a promoter in one of the coolest techno clubs of Moscow - Vanilla Ninja. 5 years ago I first time came to Berlin, visited Berghain & Cocktail d'Amore. That was life changing point: I fell in love in that vibes & felt addicted to the feeling of Freedom & Sexual liberation that experienced there so when I got back to Moscow the idea of creating something alike was already in my mind.

Where are your favourite places to go out in Russia right now, favourite clubs that you put on parties at?

I would mention 3 of my favourites: Pluton, Dissident & Dom Kultur.

Pluton used to be an electric factory. So it's big, wide, with high ceilings & few floors. It's more than a club now. It's cultural hub with day & night programmes, music, cinemas and art involved. We made our first XXL party there in November 2018 bringing Herrensauna, collaborating with Gosha Rubchinskiy aka DJ Technobeat and making first Russian queer techno rave lasting for 15 hours on 3 dancefloors.

Dissident is our home venue. We are doing parties there for more than 1 year already once every 2 months. It's in a basement, quite small & cozy, very dark & steamy. Very Berlin style. We love our partis there cos they are the most intimate. Our guests get used to it so they are comfortable and really crazy there.

Dom Kultur is a mansion in the center of Moscow. Here we tried to do smth new & more provocative that we never did before. So in December 2018 we invited Project Gestalten & Chris Philipps (Pornceptual) to make our first fetish party that we called Naked Lunch. We pushed our guests to express their sexuality & fantasies declaring the DC as Fetish. Surprisingly it worked! It was one of the most sexual parties we had. Now we are planning to keep doing such parties there time by time.

What are some of your best memories out partying and performing? Any particular anecdote or story that changed your life and stayed with you?

Last year I came to the Whole (united queer festival) which I can describe as adult wonderland and utopian place where love, inclusivity, acceptance and self expression are the core. If I would be asked how should the future society look like I would tell like The Whole.

It's a mix of great location (lake, forest, industrial machines, hand-made dance floors), beautiful, crazy and caring people & best music. Coming as a visitor last year I'm honoured & happy to participate as Popoff Kitchen showcase this year alongside with such djs and collective as Black Madonna, Discodromo, Horse Meat Disco, Wrecked NY, TrashEra and many more. Knowing some of the collectives for years for me it will be like a big family reunion. Can't wait for it!!!

In your opinion are sexually liberated parties in Russia today making a big change towards the challenges of homophobia, violent attacks and state oppression?

Absolutely yes! Stating Popoff Kitchen 2 years ago I felt much more homophobia & none tolerance around. The idea of the party was not go deeper underground & create man only party 'cos this path is a dead end. My idea was opposite - create safe place for all kind of queer ppl with focus on electronic music and make it open and welcome to everyone who shares our ideas of Freedom. I was sure that we can change the perception of gay culture & LGBTQ community with such concept but for sure it would take time.

Now we are feeling that it's starting to work. We are getting support from so many people who came especially first time to PK, from medias and I would even say that somehow we broke the wall of homophobian non-speaking about Gays and Gay parties outside of LGBTQ community. At the end of last year I was chosen by one of the main Russian media - The Village - as one of 12 Moscow citizens that made the biggest change for the city in 2018. Which is a huge shift!!!

Do you think Russian nightlife can be radical and socially transformative, or is it just a way to meet new people?

The community in Russia formed around the electronic scene is primarily music enthusiasts. Some of them collaborate with each other, some are staying separately. So far I don't feel big influence from them on the society. It's hard to imagine nowadays strong social activity in Russia, for example, like a year ago in Georgia. That was really "We dance together - We fight together".

What are some of your worst memories (if you don’t mind sharing) whilst out partying and performing? Have you personally been a victim of homophobia and violent attacks?

I've experienced homophobia actions few times in my life but the worst situation I had last Popoff Kitchen party in April 2019. Few guys came to the club where we had a party in the middle of the night. They attacked me & brutally beaten. The security haven't interacted at all. Neither at the moment when they started to beat me right on the dancefloor, not when they dragged me outside and continued. My friends & guests who tried to defend me was beaten as well but thanks God they saved me pulling back into the club. It was a nightmare. I got concussion of the brain, head injury, few more stitches on my forehead, broken arm & bruises all over my body. I'm still recovering from it...
Next day after I got from the hospital I got to the police and file a report about that. Few days ago police opened the case. As far as I know there are only few such cases in Russia that became public visible. So hopefully it will be an example for everyone who faces such violent actions how to react on them and a lesson for those who think they can do whatever they want without any punishment.

Tell us about Popoff Kitchen? Why did you start it and what does the future hold for it?

I started Popoff Kitchen as the only alternative for Moscow gay scene which I didn't feel I belong. I was inspired mostly by Berlin gay parties where I felt like home & could deeply understand myself. From very beginning I decided to create kinda new world filled with humor & codes that some people got, some not. Promoting my parties as cooking master classes, dinners, brunches etc. and djs as chefs helped me to be public & secret at the same time and gather guests who were familiar with Berghain, Cocktail d'Amore, Pornceptual etc. but didn't used to go out in Moscow.

In last 2 years we made around 20 parties bringing queer parties around Europe to Moscow & collaborating with them. Now as we've grown we started to do showcases in Europe with these friendly collectives/parties & clubs. We have the plan to come to few European cities during Gay Prides (Milano, Amsterdam & Stockholm) and make a showcase tour including Paris, London, Athens, Brussels, Barcelona etc.

As one of our goal is to integrate Moscow into a global, gay electronic dance music community and to establish lasting networks within this scene we are always in search for the parties and clubs sharing same taste in music & vibes as we do. I'm sure after The Whole I will be able to plan the next 2 years for Popoff Kitchen.

Written by Alice Tilley

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