Skrillex may be one of the more divisive artists to find high profile success in recent years, but it's undeniable that dance music has
gone mainstream, propelling even the most buttoned-up masses to fill their dance cards. Not everyone is raving to the grave at
Electric Daisy Carnival this summer, but a number of other specialized dance movements have recently emerged, giving people new reasons to shake their limbs.
Decentralized Dance Parties: Tom and Gary, two longtime friends with an affinity for letting loose, believe that partying is “the most misunderestimated artistic medium in existence,” so they created Tom and Gary's
Decentralized Dance Party (aka The Party Revolution). Portable, battery-powered celebrations, Decentralized Dance Parties consist of hundreds of participants carrying boom boxes, all of which are tuned into an on-site DJ outfitted with a backpack containing an FM radio transmitter. Their current tour, a parody of office life called
Strictly Business that was funded through Kickstarter, began with a
ruckus at SXSW and will have hit a total of 11 other cities before it ends at
Burning Man in August.
Lunch Beat: Famous for
accessible home decor and
poppy tunes of yesteryear, Sweden has long served as a harbinger of global cultural trends. And despite the EU’s downcast economic environment, Sweden’s latest novelty, a pop-up dance party enjoyed during lunch break, has taken Europe by storm. Called
Lunch Beat, the startup club series offers an alternative to the oft hedonistic weekend nightclub scene. Alcohol and drugs are discouraged; instead, water and lunch (usually a sandwich that can be eaten while grooving) are supplied by Lunch Beat organizers.
Lunch Beat even has its own manifesto—perhaps inspired by the rules of
Fight Club?—which stipulates no-no’s like the discussion of one’s job.
Polar Bear Dance: As environmental threats
persist, Arctic allies have been at a loss for what to do about ice cap deterioration. In a somewhat befuddling, yet optimistic, effort, do-gooders recently turned to dance as a means of raising awareness about the Arctic Ocean's climate concerns. Hosted by the
Sierra Club,
Center for Biological Diversity,
Alaska Wilderness League,
Oceana,
Natural Resources Defense Council and the
Endangered Species Coalition,
dancers dressed as polar bears to educate fellow participants about plans to begin drilling this summer in the
Beaufort and
Chukchi Seas, both of which are well-populated by maritime species. The ‘flash mob with a purpose’ was held in public locations around the world.
