As a fixture of D.C.’s LGBTQ nightlife scene for more than 15 years, Shea Van Horn knows what makes for a successful night out. The 49-year-old DJ co-created the dance night Mixtape and regularly performs as his drag alter-ego Summer Camp. Over the years, he’s seen gay bars and clubs come and go and he’s watched the scene evolve. But some of the biggest change came after Van Horn moved to India in 2017 for his husband’s job.

Shaw’s Town Danceboutique closed in 2018 to make way for upscale apartments. Dupont’s Cobalt shuttered in March for the same reason. Van Horn also decided to end Mixtape, the monthly dance party/DJ night he’d created with Matt Bailer, after a decade in 2018.

“When spaces are closing, it’s a shame,” Van Horn says. “But what can come from that is a galvanizing among the community of like, ‘Well, we’re not going to stop having nightlife and communing, so what do we do?’”

For Steve Lemmerman, a D.C.-based DJ who works at the 9:30 Club’s box office, the answer was simple. “There’s been a lot of taking over spaces and making them queer,” says Lemmerman, 30. “Let us take the spaces and make some magic with it. Even if we don’t have the funds to outright own our own bars, we can still make them our spaces.”

In 2019, Lemmerman co-created BENT, the 9:30 Club’s new quarterly LGBTQ dance party, which takes over the 1,200-capacity concert venue and the basement Backbar to showcase queer DJ sets, drag performers, go-go dancers, and performance art. The party transforms the 9:30 Club, adding a runway on the dance floor for performers and slightly obscuring the DJs on stage so they’re not the main attraction. The party sold out all four of its shows in 2019.

“It’s a little more immersive,” Lemmerman says, adding that inclusivity is a focus. “People are encouraged to meet strangers and interact with other circles they wouldn’t normally be in. Anyone’s welcome so you’re going to meet everyone.”

Van Horn moved back to D.C. in July and attended his first BENT in October, the Halloween-themed HellBENT.

“It’s really great to sort of shift the focus and make it more about the people you’re with and the party and being focused on that,” Van Horn says. “My life’s work has been DJing and doing parties but also I love drag and performing. So I love seeing all of that come together. Even though the components are probably things that people have seen and done before, this one felt like a nice reimagining. It felt new and exciting.”

Lemmerman has big plans for 2020. Each night will have a different theme based around different decades, starting with the Jan. 4 event, dubbed “Ringing in the Raging ’20s,” which will have a futuristic “Great Gatsby” vibe, nodding to the 1920s flapper era and a decade that’s still to come.

“I would definitely encourage people to dress as retro future,” Lemmerman says. “It’s also just a celebration of how we’re in a new decade and we kind of have the chance to shape it however we want it. How do we kick that off right? We go hard AF.”

Lemmerman, who also hosts the monthly DJ and drag night Sleaze at Wonderland Ballroom, will DJ at the next BENT as Lemz in a sort of DJ battle with his friend and fellow queer D.C. DJ, Tezrah.

“Tezrah and I have this incredible chemistry,” says Lemmerman, who recently shared a set with her for another show. “We somehow push each other to take out choices we wouldn’t normally pick. It was so high energy and so much fun.”

Van Horn will make his BENT debut performing as his campy drag persona Summer Camp, who Lemmerman calls “outrageous.”

“There is so much more than just a lip-sync,” Lemmerman adds, describing a time that Summer Camp performed a Kylie Minogue song on Halloween and rose a “corpse” (D.C. drag performer Jane Saw) from the dead. “She gives you a story and she brings new life to a song that you didn’t know that song could have.”

Though Van Horn has DJed at 9:30 Club about 10 times over the years (often for Mixtape, which he’ll resurrect at the venue during Capital Pride), this will be just the second time that he’s done drag on that stage.

“I’ve already got the nerves,” Van Horn says. “I’ve stood on that stage and I’ve played on that stage. But there’s something so humbling about getting to perform at the 9:30 Club and getting to do it as Summer Camp. It’s going to be the best way to kick off the year and the decade.”

Van Horn is also excited to be part of a show that he says is “more thoughtful and conscientious about a complete queer community,” something he sees as a growing trend among LGBTQ events in Washington.

“What’s very unique about BENT is it really captures how that’s happening in D.C.,” Van Horn adds. “Having it in a space as large as the 9:30 just shows that people want it.”

BENT returns to the 9:30 Club on Jan. 4. Doors open at 10 p.m. Tickets $20. 

This post has been updated to reflect that Van Horn’s husband’s job brought him to India.