Ultra Nate surprised the crowd at a Toronto Pride party last summer. “A lot of people were shocked by my DJ’ing,” she says. “‘We need to rethink everything we thought we knew about you,'” several partygoers told her, describing her set as “fierce.”

Nearly two decades after her gay-affirming anthem “Free,” Ultra Nate is mostly known as a house singer/songwriter with a handful of No. 1 club hits. But in recent years the Baltimore native has made a name for herself as a house DJ, through summer residencies at lauded venues in club mecca Ibiza. And there’s also her soulful house party Deep Sugar, which just celebrated 12 years of attracting a mixed, musically oriented crowd every month in Baltimore.

Nate will play a live five-hour-set for Mid-Atlantic Leather’s Dark & Twisted closing dance at the 9:30 Club this Sunday, Jan. 17. “I’m so excited and really honored,” she says. “I’m preparing some tracks from a lot of different genres, because I like to be a bit more experimental and go some places that other DJs might not.”

Of course, Dark & Twisted is just the culminating event of a long weekend filled with parties, perhaps more this year than ever. The bulk of the action takes place at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, now in its sixth year as host for MAL — and the Centaur Motorcycle Club, MAL’s presenting organization, has once again booked the entire 800-room complex at 400 New Jersey Avenue NW. More than 3,000 people are expected to attend official and affiliated events in ballrooms in the Hyatt — from the 31st annual Mr. MAL contest to rituals inspired by animals, mainly puppies and pigs. That is, when not crowding, carousing and cruising the lobby and the elevators.

Yet most gay and many gay-friendly clubs in D.C. are the site of at least one fetish function this year. Green Lantern continues to be the unofficial off-site meeting ground, certainly for gear-fiends, with the watering hole just off Thomas Circle hosting underwear event after jockstrap party — sometimes even on the same night. But after sitting on the sidelines with its new, not-yet-ready space last year, DC Eagle has put major skin in the game, presenting a few enticing events — and taking extra measures, from scheduling shuttles nightly to alerting car services of heightened demand, to ease getting there and back.

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Events

Events marked with an asterisk are official, MAL-ticketed events for weekend pass holders, who also have exclusive access to the free shuttles running every night from the hotel to bars such as DC Eagle.

Admission to the Exhibit Hall and other events on the host hotel’s lower levels are available for $15 for one-day entry or $30 for all three days. Full registration, with a weekend pass, is $200.

All listings subject to change.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 14

DC Leather Pride: Welcome to MAL 2015

Mr. MAL Titleholders Bar Night with Hot Jock Contest, plus
guest host Falcon exclusive Boomer Banks
9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

DC Eagle
3700 Benning Rd. NE
DCEagle.com

Shirtless Men Drink Free & Blackout Underwear Party

10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Green Lantern
1335 Green Ct. NW
Greenlanterndc.com

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15

MAL Registration

3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Capitol Rooms A and B
Host Hotel

Bootblacks on Duty

Benefitting Mr. MAL Travel Fund and the Rainbow Railroad

3 p.m. to 12 a.m.
Lobby Level

4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Lower Level

Host Hotel

Exhibit Hall

4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Lower LevelHost Hotel

DC Bëar Crüe: Leather Bear Party & Patio Cigar Party

DJ Say What?
6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
No cover before 9:30 p.m.
Town Danceboutique
2009 8th St. NW
dcbearcrue.com

Gear Night & Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association Bar Night

Happy Hour prices all night for those in fetish gear
5 p.m. to 3 a.m., ASGRA bar night 9:30 p.m. to close
DC Eagle

Mister International Rubber Meet and Greet Party

7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Thornton Room
Host Hotel
mirubber.com

NastyKingPigs: United States of Gear

DJ Jake Chang, hosts Element Extreme & Cake Moss
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Congressional Room A
Host Hotel
nastykinkpigs.com

Furball DC Dance Party featuring Honcho

DJs Aaron Clark, Clark Price and George d’Adhemar
9 p.m. to late
Black Cat
1811 14th St. NW
blackcatdc.com

Grunt

DJ Jake Chang, performance by Cake Moss
10 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Green Lantern

Highwaymen TNT Party: “Impact”

DJ TWiN, plus a Dyke Invasion with “female go-go boi(s)”
10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Regency Ballroom B
Host Hotel
trashandtravel.com

Code DC

Gear, uniform, leather or naked — strictly enforced
DJs Eric Gruber and David Merrill
10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
$40 for one night, or $60 for Weekend Pass

Glorious Health Club
2120 West Virginia Ave. NE
codedc.com

Code runs its own shuttle between 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.

SigMa Dungeon Play Party

D.C.’s only all-male BDSM/kink organization
8 p.m. to Midnight
$20 SigMa members, $25 non-members

1636 R St. NW, Second Floor
sigmadc.org

495 Bears: Leather Growl Party

DJ Jeffrey Eletto with all-nude muscle & bear dancers
8 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Secrets
1824 Half Street SW
secretsdc.com

Leather & Skin Dance Party

DJs Keenan Orr & MadScience
4 to 9 p.m.
Cobalt
1639 R St. NW
facebook.com/cobaltdc

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16

MAL Registration

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Capitol A and B
Host Hotel

Bootblacks on Duty

11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Lobby and Lower Levels
Host Hotel

Exhibit Hall

11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Lower Level
Host Hotel

Puppy Park 8

A puppy mosh co-hosted by NYC-PAH and Tom Buckley
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Regency B, C and D
Host Hotel
nycpah.org

International Mr. Leather 2016 Judges Announcement

Noon to 1 p.m.
Thornton Room
imrl.com

SigMa BDSM Demonstrations

2 p.m to 3:30 p.m.
Regency B, C and D
Host Hotel

SpankDC Presents Spank!

Monthly male/male spanking party
2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Green Lantern
spankdc.com

Onyx Fetish Cocktail Party with Benefit Gear Auction

2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Congressional A and B
Host Hotel
onyxmen.com

495 Bears Presents Bears Can Dance

9 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Green Lantern

SigMa Dungeon Play Party

8 p.m. to Midnight
1636 R St. NW, Second Floor

Leather Cocktails*

7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Regency Ballroom
Host Hotel

MAUL (Mid-Atlantic Uniform League) Party

10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Congressional B
Host Hotel
uniformleague.org

Empire City Motorcycle Club Bar Night

10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
DC Eagle

NastyKinkPigs: Primal FxCK

DJ Jack Chang, with performance by Cake Moss
10 p.m to 4 a.m.
Regency B, C & D
Host Hotel

Lisa Frank & TNX: Horse Meat Disco MAL Weekend

British DJ collective makes its D.C. debut
10 p.m. to close
U Street Music Hall
1115 U St. NW
ustreetmusichall.com

Code DC

10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
$40 for one night, or $60 for Weekend Pass
Glorious Health Club
Code shuttle runs 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 17

MAL Brunch*

10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Capitol A and B, Congressional A & B
Host Hotel

MAL Registration

10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Capitol Room Foyer
Host Hotel

Bootblacks on Duty

11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Lobby and Lower Level
Host Hotel

Exhibit Hall

11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Lower Level
Host Hotel

Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather 2016 Contest*

1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Non-pass-holder tickets are $25
Regency A, B, C & D
Host Hotel

MAL Happy Hour and Buffet

12 p.m. to 6 p.m. for happy hour, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. buffet
DC Eagle

DC Leather Pride: Bluf (Breeches & Leather Uniform Fanclub) DC

DJ Say What?
4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Cobalt
Shuttle offered, with drop-offs also at 9:30 Club and DC Eagle

495 Bears: Bears Can Party! MAL Edition

DJ Jeffrey Eletto
4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Green Lantern

Otter Den DC: Last Chance Tea Dance

DJs Scooter McCreight and Kevin O’Connor
5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Town Danceboutique
towndc.com

SigMa Dungeon Play Party

6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
1636 R St. NW, Second Floor

Strap’d: The GL Jockstrap Party

9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Green Lantern

Official Closing Dance: Dark & Twisted

DJ Ultra Nate, with lighting by Guy Smith
10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Non-pass-holder tickets $35 or $45 day-of

9:30 Club
815 V St. NW
930.com

Shuttle runs from 10 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.