DJ FOR US!
Thank you for your interest in DJing for Ecstatic Dance Santa Barbara! We book both local and out-of-town DJs if they are the right fit for one of our 2 dances! Overall, our Friday dances are an ecstatic format, and our Wednesdays are a dance party with a unique format and vibe. We work 1-1 with DJs to master the outdoor, silent disco format for Wednesdays, so we ask that you take time to plan your set so we can offer at least one round of feedback. To help you get a sense of what we’re looking for, please read the following:
DANCE! • WEDS 6-8:15 PM (SUMMER)
Our outdoor silent disco beach party is on the grass next to the beach with 150+ people. The sets are accessible and high-energy, so experience playing at clubs and parties is a plus, but the sets should have a much wider range of genre’s and BPMs than a typical club or dance party set. In particular, the beach dance set should have 2-3 clear, BIG, cathartic peaks, but unlike ecstatic dance, we don’t want big “valleys” where the BPM/energy gets low. Instead, to take a break from the peak, we might move into a section that’s sexy, slow, and groovy. Popular songs that dancers can sing along to or get theatrical with work great in place of “valleys.” Unlike ecstatic dance, there is not an overall energy and BPM arc that starts and ends slow/low energy, instead, the set should start medium energy/BPM, move through a wide variety of genres/BPMS throughout the set, and end on a high energy note. A majority of our dancers are in their 20’s and 30’s, so we play a lot of modern music, however, there are also older folks and families with kids and babies—so pop, hip hop, bass music, trap, and dubstep work great but not the WHOLE time. Because the setting is outdoors, people will stop dancing and start mingling if there are long stretches of the same tempo or same genre— even though we’re at the beach we don’t want it to feel like pool-party lounge music. Keep in mind that towards the end of the night the weather cools down, and if the dance is too low-energy, people get cold and leave. Listen to this example of a Wednesday set from Ecstatic Dance SB owner, Ean Golden.
FRIDAY ECSTATIC DANCE 7 - 9 PM (ONLY FIRST FRIDAYS DURING SUMMER)
Our indoor ecstatic dance is 60 + people, mostly adults (fewer kids or older folks than Wednesday). This set is on a big sound system at a yoga studio and usually includes 3 waves with high peaks and restful sections between. Fridays are a deeper journey and less pop music than our Wednesday dance— you could say Fridays have a more classic “ecstatic dance” vibe. Listen to this example of a Friday set from Ean.
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR BOTH DANCES
While we ask for clean mixing, we encourage you to let a song end and play a new song at a completely different BPM or genre at least a few times. Since we want a broader range of BPMs throughout the set, you do not have to mix every track together. We generally have “pockets” of 2-4 songs before switching genre + BPM up.
While we love songs that help our dancers go deep, our crowd is not heavily new age, so spiritual and mantra-based music doesn’t work well.
Our community is used to BIG, clear, and cathartic peaks, generally at least 2 in the course of a set. Our crowd can get hype, make lots of noise, and dance hard. This means peaks are high intensity + BPM, loud, wild, and sometimes gritty. Like in most ecstatic dances, there should be an arc of intensity, rather than a typical party set where the intensity stays around a 6 out of 10 the whole time.
To move forward:
1) Listen to the example sets provided above + pay attention to the genres, BPM range, and peaks.
2) Send a 30 - 45 min recorded set or ordered Spotify playlist to ecstaticsb@gmail.com, and specify which dance (outdoor Wednesday or indoor Friday) the demo is for.
3) Sierra will get back to you with next steps, pay rate info, and booking details. If you’re interested in playing a Wednesday set, please note that prepping for and workshopping your set is a part of the booking process!
Reach out to Sierra at ecstaticsb@gmail.com for any further clarification!