Loving La Troya: Amnesia, Ibiza
You don’t come to La Troya for the tunes; which is just as well because most of the music at Amnesia’s mid-week shindig sounds like trying to start your car on a cold day.
NO, what makes this party special is the visual spectacle. Risqué and a bit rude, La Troya is kinkier than the Ibiza coastline.
Girls, guys, gimps, gays and straights crowd two rooms under one roof for one of the best alternative parties on the island with podiums, poles, various stages, an enormous bed dotted with dancers and, err…a giant pig.
There’s the Temple del Amor, which could pass for a funeral parlour but judging by the bride and groom in matrimonial attire it’s more likely a wedding chapel. A drag queen dressed in pink with feathers on her head parades around, camping it up with a white lace parasol, while nipple tassels, brides, bulging biceps, rippling bare chests, corsets, suspenders and bow ties abound. At one point there are so many performers in top hats you’d be forgiven for thinking you were at Pacha’s Cadenza Vagabundos party.
In fact, this whole scene could be a replay of Madonna’s 1990 Blond Ambition tour, with its juxtaposition of sex and religious iconography (minus the coned cleavage). But back in the ‘90s such flamboyant displays were more jaw-droppingly controversial than they are to the modern Ibiza audience, who are less likely than your average populace to be affected by public nudity and exhibitionism. La Troya makes every effort to push boundaries, but in this day and age those boundaries are almost non-existent.
The pig was a perplexing addition – laid out on a marital bed, legs spread, all dressed up in a white corset with nowhere to go, holding a bunch of pink roses with just a triangle cloth covering its modesty – the enormous dummy sat quite ungracefully static while dancers lay on/threw themselves at its trotters. There were flying pigs in the air too, hanging out near the white drapes, red ribbons and giant love hearts suspended from the ceiling above the crowd. But these hogs were on a smaller scale, with wings and a more modest dress sense.
La Troya successfully made the transition from Space back to Amnesia in 2009, and is highly recommended if you fancy some kinky theatrics. Oscar Colorado and Les Schmitz manned the decks too, playing hard house and electro all night. Needless to say, the music wasn’t really relevant.
First published on I Voice, Ibiza, September 2010.
© Abbey Stirling