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http://www.selekta.com/reviews/party/idance.asp

check out their site for photos, or here it is for the lazy people:


iDance 2001 02.September.2001 Toronto Canada
Photos and Text: Brian Sparano



Part I: The event

After an arduous journey through incompetent holiday drivers, my crew (which was to fluctuate throughout the weekend) arrived in Toronto, quite possibly the #1 city I have had the pleasure to party in. Hours of record stores, Indian food and exclusive Toronto clothing stores later, it was time to get my rave on (cliché, I realize, but humorous nonetheless). The entire Labor Day weekend was brilliantly planned: Pre-parties on Saturday night encompassing nearly every genre of music, the iDance rally itself on Sunday, and a plethora of after-parties on Sunday night. Basically, it was as much partying as your metabolism would allow. All of the proceeds from the pre and post parties went to help make the iDance rally a free event.

Our first destination: The Hullabaloo! iDance pre-party. The Opera House venue was filled to capacity with 750 people and the event was everything a Hullabaloo! event is known to be, just on scale. After 8 hours of filling my head with the vibe it was time for some shut-eye. Being the dynamic city it is, Toronto has a million things going on at once, and following the procrastinator’s code, we didn’t try to get a hotel until Sunday morning at 7am. As the reality of no vacancy signs and 1pm check ins hit us, we needed to waste time until we could get into our distant hotel. A nearby park, filled with elderly tai chi students became our home for the next 4 hours. This surreal scene and the odd conversations that ensued are an entirely different discussion.

After a (very) brief nap and shower at our hotel, we were off to iDance. Downtown Toronto was filled with people ready to party. Not knowing the exact locale, we followed the gradient of sound concentration to the general vicinity of the event. The ambient noise of the city blocked the music and random passers by were abruptly confronted with Nathan Phillips Square, filled with dancers and progressive trance music. My first observation was that of the diversity of the crowd: Families, complete with small children were intertwined with crowds of dancers. No dancers were underrepresented. Junglists, candy-kids, clubbers, and even the elite group of techno loving Richie Hawtin look-alikes were all in harmony. A good slice of the dance community, all races, ages, walks of life, old school, new school, never went to school, everyone was there. The crowd in general was happy, friendly and sober to enforce the fact that the music is the focus and recreational chemicals need not be part of the experience. Kids dressed in blaze orange shirts with "Marshal" printed on them were some type of good-will patrol. These kids, about 50-100 strong passed out water to those not wanting to miss a beat to get the free water.

The music was as diverse as the people attending. The set list was divided into short 30 minute sets, displaying everything from techno, to jungle, trance, house and happy hardcore. This was a perfect example reinforcing the spirit of diversity and unity present in the Toronto scene. Since the sets were short, many different DJ’s got to display their talents and the dancefloor wasn’t dominated by the dancers dedicated to a particular type of music. I saw Candykids dancing to techno and there was also a random middle-aged guy getting down to happy hardcore. Of the sets I heard, the one to draw the most crowd reaction was Freaky Flow with MC Flipside. These local junglist heroes pulled the crowd into a tight vibe as the dancefloor was set ablaze with energy. My personal favorite had to be Dave Clarke. His mixture of hard acid techno and trance brought the evening to a powerful close with my mind wanting more, but my body with no more to give.

The square itself was decorated with dancing in mind, a 6 foot disco ball, illuminated by intelligent lighting was suspended at least 50 feet in the air by a portable crane. After sunset, the city became alive with brilliant lighting and reflections from the giant disco ball leaving squares of light on nearby skyscrapers.

Scattered throughout the evening were fashion shows put on by the various cutting-edge clothing designers resident in Toronto. Don’t expect a flow of fat pants, UFOs and candy jewelry; the represented designers displayed fashions appropriate for the various facets of any electronic music aficionado’s lifestyle. Plain to extreme, the hairstyles of the models as well as their clothing took departures from the normal "pop" culture, which is so nauseating here in the US. Actually, the fashion in general in Toronto is ahead of that found in any Midwest city I’ve visited.

As if my mind had not been blown enough times in an evening, after this 10 hour event, upon mere request by the MC, hundreds of people from the crowd (ourselves included) grabbed trash bags and cleaned the debris from the park. Not having a scrap of energy left, we departed for our hotel, only able to imagine what were missing at the after-parties.

Overall, I was moved by the general concept, the idea of gathering to dance in unison in a public park, converting a piece of everyday life into an electronic music wonderland. Coupling this concept with brilliant execution and political potency makes this weekend a memorable one.

Part II: The politics.

As the second event of its kind in Toronto, the iDance rally is meant to draw political attention to electronic music culture and show how electronic music concerts, events, and after-hours clubs are not the threats to society as quoted by members of the local government. The free event had large corporate sponsors as well as the support of a handful of politicians. Speakers at the event included Olivia Chow, city counselor who frequents different dance events, as well as former mayors Barbara Hall and John Sewell. Organizer Will Chang, a lawyer and law instructor at Osgoode Hill Law School, emphasized the strength of dancers as a political force while banners with "Ravers are Voters too" and "Please Let Us Rave" were displayed in the crowd. This political force was displayed last year with an attendance of more than 10,000 people and the subsequent overturning of a measure banning raves on city-owned property. The battle was a hollow one, however. Part of the resulting decision requires a specified number of paid off-duty police officers to staff the events. Corrupt police, determined to prevent raves, deliberately inflate the cost of these officers to exorbitant levels, rendering these city venues unusable. This problem was the driving force of this year’s rally, with an estimated attendance of 30,000 people reported.

Although the number of attendees at this year’s iDance rally was triple that of last year, the scene as a whole has become unstable. With a decrease in the number of events and waning attendance coupled with the political controversy over WEMF 2001 and dance events in general, promoters have started to become more cautious. After speaking with Chris Samojlenko, AKA Anabolic Frolic of Hullabaloo! Productions, I have learned that the major Hullabaloo! event planned for this fall has been postponed due to this unstable climate. Chris hopes that the iDance rally will not only succeed in its political agenda, but also re-energize the scene.

With many city governments following Toronto’s lead, the events there are of utmost importance. The fate of Toronto’s electronic music dance scene may very well be the fate of the scene in general.

Will the dance community win and save their right to dance freely? Will the Toronto scene survive this downswing? As the old cliché goes, only time will tell.

For more info on the iDance 2001, visit www.idancetoronto.com.

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