Reggaeton, salsa, and bachata collide at Sazón, Philly’s queer Latin pop-up party
Having gained momentum through popups, the dance party is moving to a three-month residency at Underground Arts
One recent evening, the small, sweaty dance floor of Club 624 above Rosy’s Taco Bar in Bella Vista was teeming with partygoers in fishnets, mesh, crop tops, and tattoos.
Under a pink-lit disco ball, nearly everyone sang along in unison to Ivy Queen’s “Quiero Bailar,” Wisin & Yandel’s “Rakata,” or Selena Quintanilla’s “Como La Flor.” The versatile dancers twerked to Latin trap and old-school reggaeton before pairing off for bachata and salsa hits.
This wasn’t just any club night: It was Sazón. The traveling party first launched last summer, when a group of friends noticed something was missing from Philadelphia’s rich nightlife scene: queer Latin nights, made by and for the city’s queer Latino community.
“When I turned 21, I definitely had my fair share of going into Woody’s and hitting Voyeur, but it didn’t always feel like me,” said Sazón cofounder Remi Coreano (stage name DJ R3M SATIVA), who grew up in Kensington and has DJed Philly Pride events. “There were queer Latin nights in the past, and for some reason, [lately] it felt like they had just disappeared. So I really wanted to intentionally fill that gap.”
They teamed up with social media manager Mateo Souada, photographer Ezra Torres, and another friend who goes by DJ DESTROYUH. The result is this semimonthly party night with the goal of building community with other LGBTQ+ Latinos in Philly — and having a good time along the way.
For Souada, who was raised in Maryland and lives in West Philly, seeking a space like Sazón stemmed from their personal experience of being rejected and cast out by their religious family because of their queer identity.
“I’ve been able to connect to part of my culture that I felt like a lot of queer Latinos who are also displaced don’t feel like they are allowed to connect to,” said Souada. “They don’t feel like they’re allowed to listen to the music that we used to grow up hearing, when, really, it’s up to us to continue that in a new form.”
Souada and Coreano have struggled with homelessness in the past, so creating Sazón as a safe space for their community has felt profoundly empowering. Coreano describes it as an inclusive house party with “abuela’s kitchen vibes.” Earlier this year, they hosted a Bad Bunny theme night to celebrate the Puerto Rican superstar’s latest album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, and they both wound up crying as the crowd around them sang every lyric.
That blend of social connection, dancing, and catharsis resonates with partygoers. Estefania Gomez, a burlesque performer who works at an immigration nonprofit, believes Sazón provides a unique experience in a city where many queer clubs are too techno-dominant and other reggaeton nights aren’t as queer-friendly.
“I guess if I want to go to a queer Latin night, I need to go to New York, but who wants to go to New York every single time?” said Gomez, who lives in Spring Garden and frequently attends Sazón with their Colombian flag in tow. “I love to dance. It just feels so great, and, like, ancestral to dance to Latin music, and it feels really healing for my body. It’s almost therapeutic when I go to Sazón.”
Gaining momentum over the past year, Sazón has popped up at Pentridge Station, Strangelove’s, and Warehouse on Watts, regularly passing capacities of 100 or more. The next big project comes this summer as Sazón begins a three-month residency at Underground Arts, with a 650-capacity space, in June. Before then, its next stop will be a free outdoor party back at Pentridge Station on May 24.