CHR Radar Miami | The Pickle, Afro-Cuban Dance, Vinyl + More - Sept 11-13
Miami is about renewal and cross-pollination: an underground institution being reborn, Afro-Cuban music and dance treated as living history, genre-fluid DJ culture, salsa community and vinyl digging.
The Floor Remembers
1. ⭐ CHR PICK: The Pickle Grand Opening
Friday, September 11 | 10 PM through sunrise | 94th Aero Squadron, 1395 NW 57th Ave
The spirit of Wynwood’s much-loved Electric Pickle returns in a new open-air form, with founder Will Renuart and Danny Daze behind the concept. The opening lineup is intentionally undisclosed, emphasizing trust in the selectors, extended sets and the dance floor instead of headliner marketing. The original Electric Pickle ran from 2009 to 2019 and helped establish a genuinely adventurous Miami house and techno ecosystem.
Why CHR: Quiet curation over celebrity signage. Sound, environment, community and credibility do the branding.
2. 💃 Asere Social Club + Master Classes
Saturday, September 12 | Workshops from 10 AM | Performance 8 PM | Colony Theatre, Miami Beach
This is probably the best pure Movement Radar discovery of the weekend.
Asere Social Club combines Afro-Cuban music, poetry, scholarship and dance, tracing connections between West African Abakuá traditions and Cuban popular music. Performers include Cortadito, Irawo Osa, Brenda Navarrete and DJ Le Spam, alongside dancers Barbara Ramos and Marisol Blanco.
The daytime program makes it even stronger: percussion at 10 AM, Orisa dance at 11:30 AM and Cuban son dance at 1 PM, with classes capped at 30 people.
Why CHR: Music, movement, historical continuity, Black Atlantic culture and contemporary Miami all meet here without being flattened into a generic “Latin night.”
3. Cezaire at ZeyZey
Friday, September 11 | 8 PM–2 AM | ZeyZey, Little Haiti
Cezaire is almost suspiciously well matched to CHR’s musical DNA. His sets move through house, hip-hop, funk, ghettotech, baile funk and UK garage, and his Roche Musique label helped build the ecosystem around artists including FKJ, Darius, Dabeull and Kartell.
Why CHR: This is genre fluidity with taste behind it, not shuffle-button eclecticism. Hip-hop sensibility, house rhythm, global club music and sophisticated groove all talk to each other.
4. Groove Tour VII
Saturday, September 12 | 2 PM–3 AM | Six locations across Coconut Grove
Groove Tour VII spreads deep house across six Grove locations, including Barracuda, Electric Cuda, Bodega, CocoWalk Courtyard, Sandbar Terrace and a Fuller Street block party. The lineup includes Nii Tei, Dude Skywalker, Terence Tabeau, Pezlo MD, Kike Roldan, Mutant Pete and a substantial group of Miami selectors.
Why CHR: Instead of importing one superstar into one nightclub, this activates a neighborhood and gives local DJs room to build culture collectively.
5. 💿 Crazy Vinyl B-Sides: Caceroloops + DJ Nutria
Saturday, September 12 | 7 PM | Crazy Vinyl Record, Doral
This is smaller than most Radar events, which is precisely why I like it.
B-Sides Session Vol. 5 brings Caceroloops and DJ Nutria into Crazy Vinyl Record for a tropical-focused in-store session explicitly built around records, music culture and community.
Why CHR: Radar should not become synonymous with clubs. Record stores are part of the cultural plumbing that keeps DJ scenes alive. For CHR, this may produce better conversations than a 2,000-person party.
6. 💃 Sway & Sip: Queer Salsa Social
Saturday, September 12 | 8 PM–2 AM | Twisted Tonic at The Lincoln Eatery, Miami Beach
Sway & Sip combines optional speed-friending, a beginner salsa class from Mel In Motion, dancing and an afterparty with DJ Aileen. Organizers say the previous edition drew more than 100 people and sold out.
Why CHR: This is a particularly good example of dance functioning as social architecture. People are not merely consuming entertainment. Movement is how strangers meet.
Miami also on the antenna:
Del Barrio Fest at Savage Labs on Friday is a very good multicultural DJ pick, with DJ Jony, DJ Eric and DJ Roma trading rounds across Argentine cumbia, RKT, Colombian cumbia and related Latin club music.
KAYTRADAY! at ZeyZey on Friday is the strongest broad-spectrum dance-party option, covering soulful house, R&B, hip-hop, amapiano, Miami bass and Jersey club. Importantly, it is a Kaytranada-inspired party, not a Kaytranada appearance.
And for the more feral edge of Radar, SoFTT’s warehouse rave at The Boombox on Saturday moves through Latin club, guaracha, bouncy techno, hyperperreo and tribal sounds. RA has marked it a current pick.
