Jacob SaucierWitches, dancing, and a little Halloween magic will take over Black Cat on Saturday as the music venue prepares to host its second annual Coven Halloween dance party.
The Oct. 24 event will feature an assortment of bewitching entertainment at the historic 14th Street venue, including pole dancing, tarot readings, a costume runway, and a local vendor market.
Tickets cost $20 in advance and $25 on the day of, including fees. The party is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m.
For organizer Skye Marinda, a D.C.-based tarot reader, Coven is an opportunity to bring alternative and artsy people together.
“At the end of the day, I plan these events because I want people to have a space to come have fun, dress up, be themselves,” Marinda said. “They’re the kind of events that I would want to go to.”
The witchy organizer
Marinda, who uses she/they pronouns, held the first Coven last October. She said she had previously planned the 2025 Venus Galentine’s dance party, now also hosted at the Black Cat annually.
The Venus party has a similar feel, Marinda said, but has more “pink Aphrodite vibes.”
Marinda has been organizing events for about four years and said witch-themed events have become increasingly popular in D.C. during that time. She began organizing monthly Witches Night gatherings at Dew Drop Inn around the 2022 winter solstice.
Marinda also co-organizes the annual D.C. Witch Fest in Columbia Heights, which was held on Oct. 10 this year.
At louder events like the Coven party, Marinda offers silent tarot readings. Attendees select a card to take home with written interpretations.
Her interest in tarot began with a 2016 Halloween trip to Salem, Massachusetts. Readings for friends and participating in local events eventually led to organizing parties of her own, Marinda said.
In addition to Coven and Venus, Marinda also held a Queer Magic dance party for Pride this year and co-hosts a recurring tarot comedy show, “The Fool,” all at the Black Cat. The next “The Fool” show will be held on Nov. 6.
Spinning records and bodies
Last year’s Coven DJs, $et and Dianamatic, are returning this year.
At Coven, $et and Dianamatic will be switching off throughout the night, playing a mix of club and alternative music.
$et, whose real name is Set Oya, said last year’s Coven saw some impressive costumes, adding that she’s looking forward to what attendees wear this year.
Oya has also DJed for Marinda’s Venus and Queer Magic parties.
“The crowd is always really cute,” she said. “It’s a really fun gathering of really sweet and beautiful, artistic, amazing people.”
Oya began digitally DJing about three years ago after initially experimenting with drum and bass on vinyl in college.
Oya said she was inspired by a friend’s setup, leading her to take a one-day DJ class.
“I ended up meeting a lot of people in that class that I just became fast friends with,” she said. “We started practicing together and then eventually throwing events together.”
“There’s a very rich and vibrant community of DJs and artists alike and community organizers,” she said.
Oya has an upcoming gig at Jimmy Valentine’s Lonely Hearts Club in D.C.’s Trinidad neighborhood on Thursday, Oct. 29, with two friends from the one-day class.
She also DJs with Girls on Decks DC and for the Golden Hour vinyl party at Vagabond in Dupont.
In addition to the DJs, pole dancer Yoo-Jin “Yooji” Kang will be back this year to perform and offer demos to Coven attendees.
An astrologer, leadership coach, and founder and CEO of the Eldest Daughters Collective, Kang said she helped Marinda plan this year’s event.
The Eldest Daughters Collective is a healing group led by and for queer, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and immigrant eldest and only daughters.
Kang’s pole demos invite attendees to try basic spins and movements with her guidance.
“My hope is to show that pole is for all kinds of bodies, and you don’t need experience to begin,” Kang wrote in an email. “People often leave smiling and surprised by their own strength and capability!”
Kang said she created the demos with her friend Trishia Domingo, who first introduced her to pole dancing and the empowerment and fun that came with it.
“I wanted to share that feeling with others, and these mini demos brought together my love of teaching, coaching, and helping folks try something new,” she wrote.
Kang said her work in astrology, coaching, and pole dancing shares a common emphasis on self-exploration.
“Events like Coven give us space to show up in our authenticity,” she wrote, “to be queer, witchy, curious, playful, and in community.
Kang, who holds a master of public health degree, was a program manager of substance use prevention initiatives at American University and the founder and chair of AU’s People of Color Employee Resource Group until her departure from the university in 2021.
Kang has partnered with the Smithsonian National Zoo to debut a new “zoostrology” experience at Night of the Living Zoo on Friday, Oct. 23, and she will be hosting a Halloween-themed Sapphic Astro Mixer at Spark Social on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
New vendors and creative offerings
Alongside the entertainment, local vendors will run booths offering everything from Halloween-themed flash tattoos and handmade jewelry to candles, sweet treats, and hair accessories.
Among them, Kyla Hunter, owner of Fairy Hair by Kyla, will offer colorful hair tinsel to attendees.
An engineer in Silver Spring by day, Hunter said she learned to apply hair tinsel a few years ago when her mother, a middle school teacher, wanted to impress her trendy students.
Hunter said she expanded to friends and roommates before turning the hobby into a small business about a year ago, she said.
She said she moved to Mid-City D.C. about three years ago and really likes the Black Cat as a venue.
Hunter connected with Marinda through D.C. Witch Fest and the city’s network of pop-up vendors. She said Coven’s emphasis on creativity and self-expression made the event a natural fit for her business.
“My tinsel hair business is just another way to another form of fashion and accessories and creativity,” she said.
“It’s a perfect kind of time for the season to participate in an event like [Coven],” she added.
Also making her Coven debut is Alex Matsuo, an author, paranormal researcher, and witch, who will bring copies of her books, including “Haunted Northern Virginia” and both volumes of her “Women of the Paranormal” series.
In an email, Matsuo, who uses she/they pronouns, said organizer Skye Marinda invited her to participate, providing Coven attendees an opportunity to explore paranormal history.
For Matsuo, Coven is an opportunity to connect with others who share her interests.
Events like Coven connect the DMV’s queer, witchy, and alternative communities and let “us know that we are not alone,” she wrote.
Other participating vendors include Phoebe Rene tattoo, offering Halloween-themed flash tattoos; Burn the Patriarchy, selling seasonal candles; Tastie Muffs, offering sweet treats; Nail Luxe Love, creating spooky press-on nails; and Jen Pape Designs, featuring hypoallergenic handmade earrings and apparel.
The historic venue
Coven is another example of Black Cat’s longstanding involvement in the District’s independent music and arts communities.
Opened in September 1993 by a group of investors, including then-Nirvana drummer now-turned Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, the Black Cat hoped to create a venue for independent music.
In the three decades since, the nightclub has established itself as a key venue for indie rock, metal, punk, and electronic alternative acts.
After moving a few doors down in 2001, the club currently operates at 1811 14th St. NW and can be reached most directly from the U Street/Cardozo Green Line Metro station or the bus stops at U Street NW and 14th St NW serving the C51, C53, D50, and D5X.
Hiba Alkhersam
Albina Yeromina
Isabella Barias
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