Vot­ing in the Fourth Annu­al Welling­ton­ista Awards is open from Decem­ber 1–15. Then come find out the results at our Awards Night at Mighty Mighty on Decem­ber 17!

To vote, vis­it this page.

We’re fans of con­ver­sa­tion, but some­times we just want to shut the hell up and dance. These are the places that we go to dance our cares away.

Photo by JemswebBoo­gie Won­der­land: Most of the Welling­ton­ista would nev­er be caught dead walk­ing through the front doors of Boo­gie Won­der­land. How­ev­er, when hav­ing a qui­et drink at Alice, more than one of us are known to sneak through the side door and have a quick secret boo­gie. There’s some­thing about the light-up dance floor that draws us in, as well as the knowl­edge that you’ll know every sin­gle song that they’re play­ing. And besides, the crowd’s total­ly from the Hutt, so it’s not like they can judge you.

The Gar­den Club: Those amongst us who went to plays or dra­ma lessons at the old Reper­to­ry The­atre are still a bit freaked out that it’s become a night club, but by pro­vid­ing three sep­a­rate spaces, The Gar­den Club man­ages to cater to a lot of peo­ple. What used to be the the­atre now plays host to dance music, often of the drum ‘n’ bass vari­ety; the old Green Room is now a bar opened up to the air for smok­ers; and the top floor — the old rehearsal space — is now a gay club where old­er patrons feel right at home.

Mighty Mighty: If vari­ety is the spice of life, then that explains why MM is so spicy. Or live­ly. Four nights a week there are four very dif­fer­ent gigs at Mighty Mighty, and under the huge dis­co ball the many dif­fer­ent types of Welling­to­ni­ans shake it out togeth­er.

San Fran­cis­co Bath House: It’s jus­ti­fi­ably famous for its live gigs, but the reg­u­lar Atom­ic and 24 Hour Par­ty Peo­ple nights also bring in a diverse crowd for whom ’80s and ’90s music means more than pre­dictable top-40 songs. This is a place cus­tom-made for danc­ing, and while the sound sys­tem may not be the best in town, the sounds them­selves are the big draw­card.

The Watusi: Much of the Watusi is giv­en over to com­fort­able seat­ing, so their dance floor space is pret­ty lim­it­ed, espe­cial­ly if there’s a live rock­a­bil­ly-ish band play­ing, as there often is. Despite this — or per­haps because of it — the floor is one of the most live­ly hap­pen­ing places to be, as the pret­ty hip­sters shake and shim­my and jive way into the night, pro­pelled by rum and com­mu­ni­ty.