Dancing by drinking his coffee | The press

Dancing in the early morning is generally synonymous with a night that stretches. For the past few months, in Montreal, it’s more like hundreds of people who like to go to bed early and celebrate sober …

Posted at 11:00 a.m.

Lisa Rey had warned me: the craze is such that a queue is created long before the start of the event, at 11 a.m. She was right. It is 10:15 a.m. and a hundred participants are already waiting in front of the establishment Le Ninety + Camas.

Dancing in a chick cable of the Mont-Royal plateau? Why not ! It is the third morning party organized by Lisa Rey and Bassil Sawaya, and each of them takes place in a place different from the metropolis. Today, women my age can dance when we see on clothing displays that they once wore in clubs have surprisingly returned to fashion …

Lisa Rey, 27, is a general entrepreneur. His boyfriend, Bassil Sawaya, is a 31 -year -old engineer who mixes electronic music. Both like to go out, but even more like to be lying at 10 p.m.

When they learned that some cafes organized dancing mornings in Los Angeles and Amsterdam, they said that Montreal deserved the same thing.

Last February, Lisa Rey published a video on Instagram to explain that nightclubs no longer met her needs and that she wanted to create day, alcohol -free. She received hundreds of messages, especially from entrepreneurs ready to open the doors of their restaurant. Two weeks later, the Cass Café hosted the first “growing” event.

“The queue was monstrous!” recalls Lisa Rey. People waited two hours in the snow. They entered with the blue lips. »»

Since then, monthly meetings have attracted crowds. Participants are happy to dance to the sound of electronic music mixed by Bassil and other DJs, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cédric Comte, co -founder of the establishment Le Ninety + Camas, where the feast of today is held, tells me that he is happy to associate with an event which is not centered on alcohol: “Our generation drinks less and I find it beautiful to see. »»

Marisela Guglietta, 42, and Amy Sulbaran, 35, are precisely here because they no longer drink and they sometimes feel uncomfortable around drunk people … as if they were not in the same dimension as them.

“All the cafes we have been going to have alcohol licenses,” says Lisa Rey. It is a choice, until now, not to serve it. A share of overflows are removed. People come for music, to spend a moment with friends or to meet people, rather than to drink. Several girls told me that here, the guys do not rub on them … Everyone is sober, there is no excuse! »»

The event only begins in 30 minutes, but music has resonated hard since 9:30 a.m. already. I waddle by jased with the participants who arrived in advance to thwart the queue. I meet Manon St-Laurent, 53, who has taken the road to Salaberry-de-Valleyfield in Montreal, attracted by the popularity of the initiative: “I like to dance when there are a lot of people. We live the same thing at the same time, it creates an entire energy! »»

Eden on the side and Kelly Langlois are in their second participation. Dancing in the clubs is behind them, say women aged 27 and 32 … A sentence that people of barely 20 years old will also tell me, asking me: “Coudonc, who are the clubs for?” »»

Mathilde and Delphine Trépanier come to dance between mother and daughter! “It is a perfect activity for the old old ones,” says the 23 -year -old woman, looking at her 54 -year -old mother tenderly, who does not formalize at all …

If I specify the age of everyone, it is because I am surprised to see how the proposal brings together different generations.

Lisa Rey was the first surprise: “We have our 25-35-year-old community, but there are also a lot of people over 50. There were two grannies stuck to the DJ, the last time! I loved it! And there are often children, before 11 am… ”

This morning there are no little ones, but there are more and more adults. Outside, Lisa asks people to make a close line to avoid receiving a fine for occupation of the public domain.

Watching it run everywhere, I tell myself that it is a lot of organization for an activity that does not bring it anything at all …

“We do this for fun,” says Lisa Rey. Because we like it, that our friends like it and that Montrealers like that. We are lucky to earn a relatively well our living, so we give back … And we absolutely want it to stay free for people to come, whatever their means. We prefer that people pay nothing at the entrance and that they can spend more at the coffee, if it tries them. The places that welcome us keep 100 % of sales. The goal is also to introduce new establishments. »»

At 11 a.m., while the event officially begins, the queue stretches for about 150 meters … Obviously, people are thirsty for discovery.

For my part, I dare not order a drink because I fear to annoy people with a coffee breath. At the same time, is it worse than the breaths of old beer and shooters At a discount to which the bars accustomed us?

… Dancing, is it done with a mint herbal tea?

The next growing event will take place on May 4 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Central.Consult the Crossound website