'DANCEiSM Is Not a Rave'
Photos Operandi
A young crowd of revelers packs a warehouse space for a recent DANCEiSM event.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — DANCEiSM isn't exactly a religion, but you wouldn't know it by the way that the Downtown-based event and artist collective has earned its followers.
While Downtown Los Angeles has been in the throes of a nightlife renaissance for some time, those neon-clad lost souls looking for dance music and not speakeasy lounges have found their way to DANCEiSM. To the skeptic, their hundreds-strong parties might appear to be a rave, but they insist that they aren't, going so far as to declare that “DANCEiSM [does not equal] RAVE” on all of their promotional work.
CFO Vivek Srinivasan makes the distinction clear, but he doesn’t shy away from the comparison.
“A lot of people have negative perceptions of a rave, but DANCEiSM isn't [one],” Srinivasan said. "[But] we're taking the underground feel from raves, the social aspect of clubs, adding some high quality production and making people [say], 'I'm really at some epic event'."
Srinivasan describes DANCEiSM as "an event, a brand and an artist collective," but that might only make sense to anyone that has experienced the event. While they appear to be a promotional events company at heart, setting up impressive productions with lights, bass-heavy music and (most impressively of all) a safe and clean environment which doesn’t attract the drug-addled rave crowd that often scares away potential revelers, they also use that platform to promote their artists, who have their own loyal fans. As one grows in popularity, so has the other.
That reputation has led to the crew’s booking of world-renowned DJs and producers like Lykke Li, Designer Drugs and Acid Girls for their events, a big leap for a group of USC graduates that started by just throwing house parties in college in 2008.
"USC had such a set-in-stone social life. There really wasn't an alternative scene,” Srinivasan said.
With time, the partners built on that alternative scene, mixing party-making and music-producing to form the collective. CEO Corey Johnson and Srinivasan joined up with DJ and producer Ben Orptsu and Robot Love’s Eron Surdam and Evan Ross, also adding producers ASAA and SP to the lineup that performs at each event.
While they were collectively friends before, their achievements called them to become business partners as well, expanding from loosely-authorized warehouse parties to full scale, high quality events. Everything is done in-house, with each member handling different functions of the business from event planning to web design. They have been keeping busy lately with their smaller and more regularly hosted shows at local venues like the Echoplex and the Rooftop Bar at The Standard, focusing much of their effort on the Downtown area that helped fuel their success.
“I love downtown, it has developed in direct opposition to the Hollywoodisms of L.A. Its like a blank canvas in which we [DTLA's residents] can start to paint a new positive culture,” Orptsu said.
The electronic and dance music movement that has been especially popular among the college-aged crowds has DANCEiSM drawing students Downtown from across the city, with ever-increasing followings at UCLA and Loyola Marymount. Helping change the stigma as much as the high quality restaurants and bars that have been dotting the downtown landscape, Srinivasan, who will be moving into the Historic Core’s SB Main next month, believes that targeting youth isn’t just good for the neighborhood, but that it is also good for business.
"In our minds, from a business perspective, the young kids' experience will shape downtown Los Angeles. When they're 21 and above, they are going to identify with the brands that are targeting them right now,” he said.
As the group celebrates its two-year anniversary with a special party this Saturday in the Warehouse District, DANCEiSM might just be one of those brands that has those kids coming back for more.
J-M on February 26, 2010, at 01:06PM – #1
Downtown + Dance Music = Perfect Fit
Guest on February 27, 2010, at 06:15AM – #2
I'm so sick of these newbie crews coming around and ripping off the business model that rave parties have been for over 10+ years.
I know the people in Danceism and it is nothing more than a glorified frat party/wannabe rave. The clientele is mainly hipster/hollywood douchebag that wants to feel cool because he slummed it at an unpermitted all night dancy party.
They need to keep their parties at the Standard since they are not a "rave." I think I'll call the cops to make a visit down to the warehouse district tonight to bust their party since they obviously are too stupid to realize having you publicize their illegal gathering is a sure-fire way to getting raided by the police.
Maybe if they actually were a "rave" they would have the common sense to keep their venue on the downlow.
See you at Infocus, a real rave in downtown los angeles tonight!
Guest on February 27, 2010, at 09:50AM – #3
I guess you don't know that much...they're fully permitted events. You can call the cops, the fire marshal, or whoever else you want, but lack of permits won't be the reason it gets shut down.
Guest on February 27, 2010, at 10:50AM – #4
Dear dumb raver,
You are an idiot. Their parties are fully permitted which is what makes them a step above raves. In Focus is in a space that can't even handle the rain that is coming down right now. This is why nobody respects raver morons like you, and people like Danceism are actually going to succeed with what they are doing.
Dennis Smith on February 27, 2010, at 10:58AM – #5
Producers like Designer Drugs and Acid Girls don't attract a "drug-addled" crowd.
Really.
p.s. Yeah, I know the term "Acid House" has an arguable etymology going back to the Roland driven nights of the "drug addled" rave scene but its a little naive to think clever college students haven't figured out the lysergic double-entendre. Among the present day club kids of my acquaintance, none of whom I'd consider "lost souls", maintaining a straight edge sobriety on the dance floor is of fairly low priority, even if their designer drugs of choice remain Red Bull and Grey Goose.
Guest on February 27, 2010, at 12:35PM – #6
Dennis,
You'll find some kind of recreational drug use in any kind of group of young partiers, but the stigma is a different situation. When it's almost exclusively your fellow students, it isn't sobriety that's the issue but that wary feeling of being at some kind of unlicensed rave. Acid house and nu-rave are becoming more and more mainstream but the stigma of your classic warehouse rave isn't taking that same leap. So while you might not see any value in things like Danceism or bigger events like Hardfest, they seem to have a less creepy, for lack of a better term, vibe than your secret and less secure traditional rave, filling that gap between those that like that type of music but are generally too wary or even too pretentious for the real deal.
Guest on February 27, 2010, at 04:24PM – #7
I never really understood the point of attending a rave without the drugs. Once I grew out of my early-twenties "party years" and cut out the pills/tabs/whatever, all night parties lost a lot of their appeal. I still love the music and will have a lifelong penchant for bass, but found raves to be much more one-dimensional without the mind-expanding substances. Also, I would get tired and want to go home around 2am. Haha, maybe I just got too old.
-30 year old ex NYC raver
Guest on February 27, 2010, at 04:32PM – #8
@Guest #1
Raves have been around for a bit longer than 10 years- I'd say closer to 20 years at this point. I'm not surprised they've been around for so long, but one thing that does surprise me is how little the styles have changed. A candy kid in 2010 dresses nearly identical to a candy kid in '97.
Guest on February 28, 2010, at 09:54AM – #9
The Warehouse District's not just warehouses. We had no advance notice about this, heard the noise/music all night, parking on our street was crazy, and drunken fools wandering around all night. Why didn't they post any notices? People live here.
Guest on February 28, 2010, at 07:28PM – #10
Hey Infocus shutdown early, and my friends an I ended up getting into Danceism, and we had a much better time there.
I'm down for the danceism
Guest on February 28, 2010, at 11:27PM – #11
Danceism was incredible!
Guest on March 01, 2010, at 07:06AM – #12
Haha, loved the positive comments OBVIOUSLY posted by the danceism people as well as the negatives posted by the infocus guys, hahaha, keep it up you two!
ps; like you both!