Diva's of Pagasus Bar

A “men’s wellness club” is how the floor manager Via defined Pegasus when we asked her what type of establishment the place is. Pegasus is located along Quezon Avenue is known to offer the most expensive service of its kind. In Greek mythology Pegasus is one of the best known creatures, a winged pure white coloured divine stallion. According to legend, a spring would emerge wherever the winged horse struck his hoofs to the earth.

Pegasus the club could have been any place as there were no signboards identifying the place, except for the colourful neon lights giving the name of the Grecian horse. The floor manager informed me that women guests were charged 500 pesos for admission. Via handed over my charge to the uniformed ushers hanging around the lobby.

Entering the main hall was another experience. The bright purple and pink lights on stage lit up not only the stage but also the room in patches. The few customers were foreigners out for a jaunt, like me. Onstage, a couple in black–suit-and-tie were lisping karaoke songs. The darkness excited me, creating a sense of privacy. There were chairs surrounding small tables all over the hall and I chose one with a good view of the stage. The waitress who brought the menu card looked like she thought she had come for a stroll on the beach. The menu, it seemed, was less revealing. Except for the prices as the drinks were not exactly maximum retail price but maximum ripoff price. There was a reason for the beverages to be priced skyhigh as it was “courtesy” to buy the club-girl you preferred to spend time gossiping a drink.

Competition was stiff among the girls. Most of the clubgirls’ earnings depended on the nature of their job. It was a sort of climbing up the hierarchy, with an increase in price as they worked their way up the ranks. At the base level, the Guest Relations Officer, the ones who accompany guests through the drinks and entertaining conversations, charged 100 peso an hour. The next level in the hierarchy were the dancers and performers on the stage, who charged 200 peso per hour for sitting at the guest’s table. Finally, there were the centrefold models who charged 500 peso per hour.

A band was playing onstage and when they finished with a staccato drumbeat, I looked to the next event of the night. The milky white spotlight directed my attention to the centre of the stage, just as the all the other lights were switched off. Then pirouetting into the beam of the spotlight a Filipino appeared, accompanied by other dancers. Their performance was spellbinding, a mixture of ballet and the Brazilian samba. The spellbound audience watched as the dancers moved all over the stage, their hips moving provocatively, their shoulders puffing through the air and their cleavages swinging like sails in a storm, all of which seemed to have hypnotized the viewers. Their variety of performances lasted for about 30 minutes. I did not want the show to end. When the curtains finally fell, I decided to return the next night. I was charmed and wished I was also a part of Greek mythology.