It was a warm summer night in Paris, we made our way down the stairs to the Metro entrance and were welcomed by the unbearable heat and the rather unpleasant smell of the French underground. We quickly reached the platform and waited a few minutes for the Metro to arrive, our clubbing gear attracting a few inquisitive looks. I was filled with anxiety. My previous bad experiences with some of the worst doormen of the capital in mind, I couldn't really bear the thought of being turned down at the door by some idiot. We quickly reached our destination: Metro Vavin on the west bank. We emerged from the endless maze of corridors onto the animated Boulevard Montparnasse illuminated by the numerous restaurants and cafes on each side of the road, our destination: number 102.

After a short walk, we were there: the home of Cheers. And here they were: the dreaded doormen, their suit shining in the night like a black armor. It was just past midnight and the doors were still closed, to our surprise, one of the doormen politely asked us to wait on the side while the last checks were being carried out inside. A small man in his fifties suddenly emerged from behind one of the colossal bouncers and stared at us with his small inquiring dark eyes. "Vous etes sur la liste?" he asked. We were not but before we knew we were going down the stairs leading to the club escorted by one of the bouncers. A rather moody Parisian lady in her late fifties abruptly asked us for our 16 Euros and when handed the money, proudly wrote it down in her book. The electronic tills you see in most London clubs clearly had not made it there.

Our next stop was the cloakroom, we left our jackets there and at that point I was still wondering if we had walked into number 100 rather than 102. My doubts were quickly washed away by the sound of Angie Stone's "Wish I didn't miss you" as we pushed the wooden doors that lead to the dance-floor. At last, we were in!

Formerly held once a month at Queen's on les Champs Elysees, Cheers is now taking place weekly in the basement of the traditional restaurant "La Coupole". The place with its wooden floor clearly wasn't designed to be a club and looks more appropriate for wedding receptions. Big bunches of multi-colored balloons were hanging from the four central poles surrounding the tiny little dome, right at the back, in the dark booth slightly overlooking the dancer-floor, an agitated shadow was warming-up. We grabbed our free drinks and sat at one of the tables scattered around the dance-floor as the regulars were slowly coming in.

Cheers attracts a young mixed crowd ranging from fashion victims to gospel house fans and last but not least break-dancers who really seem to be the heart and soul of the party.

It happened shortly after one o'clock, as Candido's "Jingo" was blasting through the speakers, the towels and the XXL sweaters were left behind in the corner and an army of fit bodies was now moving in harmony around the dance-floor in the most amazing display of skills.

Some were simply jacking in their baggy trousers with the most perfect sense of rhythm, others were spinning on their back: arms and legs were regularly thrown in the air. The army of dancers was divided into two groups: the veterans who clearly had been throwing moves for years and the novices who were watching their friends closely trying to reproduce their intricate moves to the perfection. The heat was rising, we soon made our way to the dance-floor.

The shadow in the booth was now throwing down some serious music, occasionally working the Eqs, Sven Love was hard at work: the pounding beats, the jazz chords and the contagious vocals had now taken over the entire room. The pace was set for the entire night.

Neil Aline, boss of NYC based Chez record label soon took over the decks and as if Sven Love's last record hadn't caused enough damage on the dance-floor, hit the crowd hard with Timmy Regisford's mixes of "How Deep is your love?": the place had just blown up! But it clearly wasn't enough for the man, soon screams and hysterical cheers welcomed the first few beats of Blaze's "Sweeter than the day before": this obviously was a Cheers classic!

On our side, the break-dancers were still defying the laws of gravity in what happened to be a friendly contest. The clock quickly reached 5 o'clock and the gospel lyrics were still causing great havoc on the dance-floor, we decided to leave and save our energy for the rest of our stay in Paris. We soon reached the street, a line of taxis was waiting for us, we jumped in one. The sun wasn't up yet but it certainly was shining in that basement on Boulevard Montparnasse.

Cheers takes place every friday @
 
Dancing de la Coupole
102 Bd du Montparnasse
75014 Paris
Metro: Vavin

Since its launch, Sven Love & Greg Gauthier's "Cheers" has welcomed numerous guests such as: Jay Williams, Adam Scott, Terry Hunter, Victor Simonelli, Dimitri from Paris, Dj Gregory, Deep Swing, Lenny Fontana, Paul Trouble Anderson, Little Louie Vega, Dennis Ferrer as well as artists/performers like Jocelyn Brown, Rochelle Fleming, Connie Harvey, KT Brooks and Michelle Weeks. Recently, the marathon man himself: Timmy Regisford made a memorable appearance!