E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Adam Warzawa / EPA file
Partygoers dance with themselves (and others) at a silent disco at the July 2011 Open'er Festival in Gdynia, Poland.
Disco isn’t dead. It just went quiet. Just walk into a Silent Disco event and see for yourself: a couple hundred people, two DJs spinning, and a dance floor filled with gyrating dancers – in total silence.
To the spectator, it’s an odd sight. But this new dance party phenomenon, which started in Europe (of course), uses specially designed wireless headphones rather than a traditional speaker system to get music to the masses. This Silentpalooza is people-watching heaven. And it’s now taking America by storm.
“People would think its anti-social, but it ends up being the exact opposite,” says Ryan Dowd, owner of Silent Events, Inc., who caters Silent Disco events around the country. “If you meet someone or give them the eye on the dance floor, there’s no way to talk in a loud, crowded club without going outside, but this way you can literally take off the headphones in the center of the dance floor and talk in an inside voice steps from the DJ.”
Silent Events is one of the first American companies to bring Silent Disco to the U.S. You can now find college campuses hosting Silent Disco parties for their students as well as music festivals, fairs, weekly silent nights at your favorite club, rooftop parties—Jet Blue even held one at their airport terminal at JFK. (It gets interesting around the 1:50 mark.)
Originally created to deal with noise ordinances, dance parties booming music that’s both private and shared provide a feeling of camaraderie. Everyone feels like they’re in on a secret since they’re all wearing the headphones. But when it’s just you and the music, you kind of forget other people and sing like you’re in the car or the shower. Plus, there’s a comedic value since spectators nab a voyeuristic pleasure from watching the group dance in what appears to be silence.
“I think it’s become a phenomenon because there are so many ways to enjoy it,” says Dowd. “If you don’t like loud music, you can dial down the volume. If you don’t like a certain type of music, you can change the channel. If you don’t dance, you can people watch.” Often there’s a choice of several DJs or two or three types of music like rock, rap or electronica. Silent Events even created a bilingual option for a recent Coca-Cola silent dance party.
Dowd, who’s been at the helm of Silent Events over three years, says each year it’s become better known and better received. People stand in line to get in. When the headphones run out that means Silent Disco is really hopping.
Could you shed your inhibitions and dance without music blaring?
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
Good Grief; I MUST be getting old.
Its like watching TV at my dad's house.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.
A faster way of deafening the people. why not just turn the effen music down so you don't disturb the whole freaking neighborhood.
Problem solved and you don't end up looking like idiots as portrayed in the pics of the story.
Disco Mimes,,,,,, ROFLMAO. Regular mimes are creepy enough when their in their boxes, now their dancing disco mimes. Yikes!! Seems disco isn't dead after all, it just put on head phones. I hate mimes.
Click on the FrontSherpa name for a linked to our experience at a Silent Disco during ACL this past weekend.
You still need to be careful about those who dance but dont have headphones. ;)
Click on the FrontSherpa name for a linked to our experience at a Silent Disco during ACL this past weekend.
I think deaf people will have an issue with this and try their damnest to sue.
I think you're an ass.
I think Deaf people will embrace this! If they wear any kind of amplification or Cochlear, they could just use an FM system designed to directly stream the music instead of trying to make out the sounds in a loud environment.....
It seems to me you don't actually know any Deaf people...and are just an ignorant jerk trying to portray Deaf people as victims of a hearing society.
Click on the FrontSherpa name for a linked to our experience at a Silent Disco during ACL this past weekend.
I like the concept; dancing and still can carry on a normal conversation, works for me!
I lived-barely- through the REAL Disco this sounds quiet and wonderful.
I partied at the Paradise Garage in the 80's, with 20 ft. high speakers encircling the dance floor. Don't think that I could get used to this...but my ears would probably be grateful.
Whad ya say?
Went to one this past Saturday and it was GREAT!
First thoughts - Idiotic. On second consideration, Brilliant! If everyone wore these all the time, just think how many inane conversations you could avoid overhearing.
I dunno, a big part for me going to a club is to "feel" the bass. Headphones can't provide that sort of physical response. But it is an interesting idea. Not really sure it'll catch on though. Too expensive to maintain headphones, worry about theft of the headphones, etc.
Sounds like a head lice plague in the making.
I was wondering about that too! Most people headed out to clubs spend hours on their hair and now it will be mashed into the side of their head.
Rise and fall will be quick.
Great. Now you can hear the obnoxious drunk guy across the bar even better.
I'm just gonna start wearing these at home so I don't have to listen to the wife and kids whining
On the side of noise problems and socializing in clubs without going deaf or hoarse, this is a cool idea. But I'm concerned what the headphone-related nerve deafness factor might be. People're already having hearing problems at young ages because of too much noise-cancelling headphone exposure.
I was a lousy dancer at regular discos. I assume I'd be just as lousy at a silent one.
You and 99% of the population, me included
How about headphones and blinders ? You can hear the music and not see how bad everyone looks when dancing or maybe virtual reality goggles that make it look like everyone is dancing better than they actually are.
...just like karaoke machines correct pitch?
one of the reasons to see a good dj is that everyone is dancing to the same music at once, and the dj is able to respond to the audience and play what they are getting into. If you have a choice of music channels then all of that is gone, and how are you going to dance together? And you certainly won't feel the base hitting you in the chest. This definitely won't have the same vibe. And I wouldn't be surprised if you actually damage your hearing MORE by turning your headphones up too loud than being in a noisy club.
It's strange but definitely interesting. I'm not a club type of person but I would love to try this out for the sheer novelty of it.
I used to do the club scene in the early 90's, and the loud music was what it was all about. I think the concept is interesting as well, but I can't imagine it back in the hey-days of Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. Can you imagine walking into a club and seeing a bunch of people slam dancing to nothing? LOL. I think it would be cool, too, but I agree about the headphones eventually causing hearing problems.
I remember how outraged I was when the bars/clubs started charging me to listen to their bad records.
I asked, "Who's playing tonight?" when they asked me for money at the door. I expected a live band. Why else would they charge me cover? The things we guys will put up with just to get some trim.
Disco/pop/rap still sucks. I love music too much.
A couple of hundred people dancing can't possibly be "total silence" ... and I bet you can even hear some music leakage from the two hundred pairs of headphones!
This sounds fascinating.
Too bad I am agoraphobic.
Part of the Disco experience was feeling the music moving through you. I guess that is what the neighbors didn't like...
This is a great way to pass germs around.
Who cleans these headphones after they have been used about 10 times by sweating and some unsanitary people?
I think the idea is a fad and it would be better to have sound proof glass thick dance floor instead with the music playing lightly on small speakers outside around the glass club room so people can talk and watch.
That is the whole experience of going to a dance club is it not?
The only good part about this idea is that you don't disturb the peace and I guess if your club is in a place where there are homes then its a good idea, but WTF would you build a club near homes?
Duh? not winning...........LMAO by the way I watched the new 2/1/2 men and it sucks big time without C.Cheen.
I just thought I would add that in for the hell of it.
I just thought it was about as stupid as this topic never last.
Later all and don't try and steal those headphones when you leave or wear them to the restroom OMG!
I guess they hire air guitar bands for their entertainment. This does seem to be an improvement over the meat locker clubs of the '70s. I never figured out how to strike up an interesting conversation with a women when the ambient sound level approached that of a couple of jackhammer crews digging up a Manhattan street.
What about contracting ear fungus ?
What about contracting ear fungus ?
Bonnaroo'd
This idea was in a Bob Dylan song, "You should be made to wear earphones. Something is happening but you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones."