Here under the mirror ball, the regulars at Tracks nightclub know him as "Shawn Allure." He's the guy with the outrageous costumes, glass-smooth moves and the captivating confidence. On the catwalk, there is little inkling that by day the 21-year-old is a struggling office worker.

It took nearly three years of learning how to dance at the club off South Capitol Street for the baby-faced [Shawn] Short to gain the self- assurance to tell his family he's gay. Last year, he stopped going to Tracks every week. He was already meeting gays elsewhere in the city and said he no longer needed to be at the nightclub to feel special.

The closing of Tracks marks the end of an era in D.C. night life. Never before had the city seen such a huge club, one on a par with those in New York or Miami. And never before had so many gays and straights, women and men, blacks and whites, met under one roof to dance.