Flash Canadian dancers wow punters at BATS
Flash Canadian dancers wow punters at BATS
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Clad in black, the opening act -- two women -- went on stage.
Singer Hening breathed into the microphone and her friend, Ratna
began playing the keyboard.
The night was still young but there was a steady stream of
people filling the club early to get the best seats.
A Western man and his companion, a svelte Indonesian woman,
chose a candle-lit table in the corner to have a romantic dinner
as other visitors chose to assemble around the large main bar in
the middle.
The Jakarta Post was at the Bar At The Shangri-La (BATS),
taking part in a special gathering to introduce the live music
club's new act -- the Flashdance Band.
"We are here to rock Jakarta. This place will be jumping, I
tell you," drummer Sebastien Cote said when the band came on
stage.
Billed as one of the top Canadian top-40 cover bands,
Flashdance consists of four singing and dancing young women and
three equally youthful blokes who play the instruments. They are
Izabelle Gagnon, Emily Levesque, Marie Cournoyer and Valeri
Peterson, Sebastien (drums), Francois Laperle (guitar) and
Alexander Brancaud (keyboard and saxophone).
On their first show that night, the cheerful Canadians
performed a string of popular Western hits along with two local
ones, Ekspresi and Separuh Nafas from Titi DJ and Dewa.
What set this group apart from their Indonesian counterparts
was their singing and dancing. While the band rocked out, the
four women really managed to get down, wearing sexy dark pants
and Madonna-style bustiers that tied their audience up in knots.
Like other BATS bands, Flashdance will perform at BATS for
three months.
While the mainstream entertainment is undeniably professional,
it is not the only attraction of the club, which offers a full
dinner menu amid what it calls a "New York Underground Bar"
atmosphere.
"We are opening earlier to accommodate executives after office
hours. We push our image: Great food, premium drink and a nice
ambience," assistant manager Daniel Priambodo said.
Red bricks are the dominant feature on the walls and red
stains the pillars inside, while one back wall is covered with
caracitures, a hall of fame of BATS-goers from times past and
present.
"They are the faces of our loyal customers. This is kind of
how we appreciate them," Daniel said grinning.
The menu features a range of appetizers from beef carpaccio to
French onion soup, while main courses include Mulawarra beef
fillet or prime Australian sirloin plus a glass of house wine.
With space in the restaurant for 88 people and a hundred more
in the bar, BATS is definitely a place to go with a large group
of friends.
The club also takes care of its patrons in more ways than one.
Visitors go through at least three security checkpoints entering
the bar and there is an enforced dress code.
"Not everyone can meet the conditions of entry. This
automatically filters our guests," he said.
And if BATS' healthy turnout was any judge, then expatriates
-- many of who admitted to being foreign embassy staff or
employees of multinational companies -- feel comfortable there.
They also won most of the door prizes, while the Indonesian
women had the hippest moves on the dance floor.
BATS
Shangri-La Hotel, Kota BNI, Jl Jend. Sudirman Kav.1, Jakarta
Phone: (021) 574 8401
Opening hours:
Seven days a week
Bar 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Dinner 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Happy hours 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.