Alone in the crowd: Silent discos, blackout dancing on the rise

Young people jaded by the bumping, grinding, thumping and screeching involved in the modern club scene are finding new ways to make the experience more individual, by cutting out the elements they don’t like while maintaining the vibe of dancing in a crowd.

One such movement is quickly catching on in Montreal, where an event called Danser Dans l’Noir is offering a safe space for people to dance with nobody watching. The event is a strictly no-touching, no-alcohol, no-lights affair, and it’s become wildly popular since it launched earlier this year.

Organizers Anne Isabelle Leonard and Steve Day say those restrictions can actually be freeing, because participants don’t need to worry about the social or romantic elements often associated with going to a club.

“Taking that out of the equation changes how I approach dancing,” Day told CTVNews.ca. He added that dancing in the dark is a great way to try new moves, change up existing routines and challenge yourself to become a better dancer – or even just a competent one.

Leonard says she loves Danser Dan l’Noir because, as a woman, it offers her a safe space to dance without having to deal with romantic advances from men.

“Everybody’s just there to dance, which is my passion,” she said.

Leonard, who is a 26-year-old visual artist and composer, and Day, a 33-year-old theatre professional, got the idea for Danser Dans l’Noir from a similar event in Europe called No Lights, No Lycra. Their first five sessions have lasted about 75 minutes with 20 dancers, but they’re planning to expand to a second venue and double the number of dancers in the near future.

All of their events have been fully booked, including an upcoming one on Halloween.

But, while Leonard and Day are pleased with the popularity of Danser Dans l’Noir, they say there’s nothing to stop others from doing it themselves.

“We didn’t patent any of this,” Day said. “It’s simple and it’s easy to do it in a church basement.”

For those who prefer to dance with the lights on, but maybe don’t enjoy the chest-rattling thud of club music, headphone parties are also becoming an option across North America.

The premise behind these parties is simple: each person wears special light-up headphones that can be tuned to one of a number of different DJs playing very different music. The lights change with the music, so you can easily identify who’s dancing to what and join up with the people who are on the same wavelength as you.

The group Quiet Clubbing runs a number of these events every month at locations in Toronto, Mont Tremblant and other clubs in the U.S.

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