Students in their rooms on the second floor of Kreischer-Compton are probably used to hearing loud music thumping in the hallway.
However, they are probably not used to seeing that same hallway filled with 40 people dancing to that loud, thumping music.
This is the scene every Saturday night from 9 p.m. to midnight as Club 221, a dance club independently run by students, brings together residents of Kreischer.
Its co-founders, Michael Bulgatz and Craig Link, named the club after the room they call home.
Bulgatz and Link were inspired to create Club 221 last year when they decided it is too much of a hassle to go downtown and pay to get into nightclubs.
While Club 221 takes place in a hallway and two rooms, the club’s eight staff members try to mimic a club atmosphere as much as possible.
The hallway’s lights are turned off but the club area is illuminated by strings of lights, most notably a string shaped like a cursive “club 221.”
Michael “DJ Mike” Miller, the house DJ, sets up a table in the hallway with his Macintosh iBook on top. From there, he plays over 5,000 songs stored on its hard drive with a pair of amplifier speakers wired into the computer.
Miller plays a range of music including techno, hip-hop, rock, country and anything the audience requests.
Club 221 is already gaining popularity. As many as 40 people could be found dancing on Compton’s second floor at any one time, according to Ryan Turinsky, public relations for the club.
Daniel Vandersommers, residential advisor for second-floor Compton, approves of the dance club. “They were keeping kids in on Saturday night instead of getting drunk, building community in the hall; they were behaving,” he said.
Laura Nelson, president of Kreischer Compton-Darrow Hall Council, also supports Bulgatz and Link’s efforts. “I think it’s great that this group of boys is trying to increase community and involvement within the hall,” she said.
Not everyone is as enthusiastic about Club 221.
An anonymous group of residents taped signs saying “Stop Compton’s Boys from Making Noise” and “Your Karaoke Is Really Hokey,” among other statements, in the hall outside the area where Club 221 takes place.
Two weeks ago a pair of walking Residential Advisors gave the club a warning for the table, amplifiers and several chairs that lined the hallway, calling them fire hazards.
Link said all equipment, tables and chairs would be inside rooms next Saturday.
Club 221 plans on making several improvements in the near future. More speakers, another microphone, a live techno artist and a costume party for the October 30 Halloween night are in the works, according to club staff.
Mariela Sanchez, a sophomore who lives on Compton’s second floor, has not seen Club 221 for herself but leaves her door open Saturday nights to listen to the music.
“It’s entertaining,” said Sanchez. “The karaoke is hilarious; [my roommate and I] tried singing along to it.”
