15 March 26 - april 1, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Going Dark A vibrant goth cumbia party is transforming Dallas nightlife. BY OSVALDO ESPINO O n a packed night at Charlie’s Star Lounge, the room warms up slowly as cumbia rhythms roll through the speakers, steady and hypnotic, pulling people onto the dance floor almost without thinking. Hips sway, shoulders loosen, laughter cuts through the air, and for a mo- ment it feels like a familiar Latin party, com- munal and joyful. Then the shift happens. The percussion fades into icy synths. Basslines deepen, and the mood darkens as goth, post-punk and new-wave textures creep in. The lights feel lower, the move- ment sharper, more intentional. Strangers dance side by side, fully locked in, as the night slides effortlessly from celebration into something more defiant. This is Soy Darks, and in Dallas nightlife, there is noth- ing else quite like it. Founded and curated by DJ and commu- nity organizer Ari Villa, Soy Darks has qui- etly become one of the city’s most distinctive Latin-forward dance parties, a space where goth, new wave, EBM and cumbia coexist without apology. What started as an experi- ment has grown into an award-winning monthly that reflects a broader hunger in Dallas for community-driven nightlife rooted in culture, resistance and joy. “Soy Darks is the party,” Villa says. “I run it, I put it together, it’s my baby.” Villa didn’t set out to create a genre-defy- ing event. Long before Soy Darks, she was immersed in underground music scenes, in- cluding punk, electroclash, goth and more, collecting records as a teenager and later DJing ’80s and new-wave sets at art and fashion events. In 2014, she began spinning publicly while working as a contributing fashion stylist for The Dallas Morning News’ glossy magazine, leaning into left-of-center selections that didn’t always fit traditional club expectations. “I was just playing weird stuff,” Villa says, laughing. As her reputation grew, so did the invita- tions. She played at the Boiled Owl in Fort Worth and did various guest sets for La Bruja Presents, where her darkwave and EBM selections stood out, where her dark- wave and EBM selections stood out. After one of those sets, Charlie’s co-owner Corey Howe approached her with an offer: If she wanted to build something of her own, the door was open. At the time, Villa didn’t even own turntables. It took nearly a year before she was fully equipped, but by then, she had a bigger question on her mind. Dal- las already had a goth scene, a strong one. “I didn’t want to compete with something that al- ready existed,” she says. “I had to figure out how to make a niche.” The answer arrived from multiple directions at once. Villa had spent years working as a community organizer in Fort Worth, focusing on empowerment rather than reactionary politics. By the time she stepped away from that work, she still felt the pull to bring people together, especially as political and cultural tensions intensi- fied nationwide. “It felt like literally the week before every party, something horrible would happen,” Villa says. “And I’d think, ‘God, we need this.’” Around the same time, she began paying closer attention to the resurgence of cumbia, not just as a genre, but as a movement. On the West Coast and beyond, cumbia was be- ing reclaimed as something raw, communal and deeply political. “They say cumbia is the new punk,” Villa says. “It’s resistance music.” She remembers watching videos of hun- dreds of people dancing together on a bridge on a Sunday afternoon, no cover charge, no hi- erarchy. “That’s what we need,” she thought. Soy Darks was born from that realization: a space where her goth roots and cumbia’s com- munal spirit could meet without dilution. The first Soy Darks events in late 2024 and early 2025 were modest . The party initially ran every fifth Wednesday at Charlie’s, a slot that doesn’t come around often. But the Hal- loween edition before last changed everything. “It went off,” Villa says simply. From there, Soy Darks expanded organi- cally, popping up at Spinster Records and eventually traveling to the Rio Grande Valley in collaboration with Chulita Vinyl Club, a women-led, LGBTQ+ and POC DJ collec- tive rooted in creating safe, community- driven spaces and using vinyl as a form of cultural preservation and resistance. The party found its footing at Charlie’s, where it now runs every first Saturday of the month, a prime slot that reflects its growing draw. Villa doesn’t frame herself as the star of the night. Instead, she sees her role as a cu- rator and connector. She anchors the party with goth, EBM, ’80s and new-wave selec- tions, while inviting guest DJs to bring their own interpretations of cumbia and Latin dance music. “I don’t spin cumbia all night,” she says. “I curate the space.” That openness has made Soy Darks a magnet for DJs across identities and genres. New Year’s Eve featured a trans Chicana DJ. Pride Month went genre-fluid. Some nights skew darker; others lean celebratory, filled with Bad Bunny edits and party anthems. “I tell everyone: do your thing,” Villa says. “That’s your experience. The common de- nominator is cumbia, discovering it to- gether.” For regular attendee Roman, Soy Darks’ evolution has been unmistakable. “I go any time there’s a Soy Darks event, which is usually about once a month,” he says. “There’s a really good blend of culture there. I love to dance, and the music is al- ways good.” Roman discovered Dallas’ cumbia scene within the last year, but he’s watched Soy Darks transform in real time. “I’ve been to shows where I was one of only four or five people dancing,” he says. “Watching it grow has been amazing.” That growth, he believes, comes down to Villa’s approach. “A lot of it has to do with Ari and the way she cultivates her commu- nity,” Roman says. “She’s authentic when she speaks, and she’s always uplifting the Latin community.” Villa is quick to deflect credit. Soy Darks, she insists, has always been a collective ef- fort. Early events partnered with De ▼ Music Jordan Smith Soy Darks is a genre-defying event. >> p16 Jordan Smith DJ Mutemor is on the decks at a Soy Darks event at Charlie’s Star Lounge in October.
