San Diego Magazine / February 2011 / Daniella Deviant, the Dominatrix

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Daniella Deviant, the Dominatrix

Before the red velvet lounge furniture had arrived or the mirrored stairs had a chance to crack or the stripper poles were shined, word of “the wheel and the girl who runs it” had San ­Diegans atwitter about the hottest club to open in the Gaslamp — Club Boudoir.

Owner Mike Viscuso is hardly new to the scene. Over the years, he’s opened downtown clubs On Broadway, E Street Alley and Deco’s. Soon, he’ll reopen the former Jack’s La Jolla space on Girard  as Mike’s.

But a Vegas-style fetish club like Boudoir is a new concept for San Diego, and what really sets it apart are the women who work there. One in particular is the hot Hawaiian beauty Daniella Deviant, or Dani the Dominatrix. Her approachability matched with her subtly strict demeanor allows her to inflict patrons with more pleasure than pain on the club’s spinning wheel.

It looks like some kind of medieval torture device; club patrons pay to be strapped on and whipped. After signing the mandatory waiver releasing the club of liability, we recently witnessed patrons (mostly women, first-timers and no drunks) excitedly line up to engage in the sexually charged experience of relinquishing all control and letting Dani, using a variety of implements, spin the wheel.

“It’s safe because I only do what they want,” she says.

The club owners and Dani believe the club is intended not only to be fun but a place where people can feel empowered to let go and feel safe to explore fantasy in a sanctioned way.

“Whether it’s up on the wheel with me, or spinning around one of the three stripper poles, the more you master the dark parts of your soul, the more you can love and accept yourself,” she says.

Photo by Paul Body