(((THIS IS A TEST OF THE EMERGENCY DANCE PARTY NETWORK)))

“We are training to be responders in a global pandemic of paralysis, disorientation, dangerous leadership, and untrustworthy physical and human surroundings. The first step to being a responder is to keep our bodies and spirits in motion—to get connected to ourselves and others. Together we’re going to shake out the news and the anxiety, explore our senses, and wrap ourselves in a virtual gauze of collective celebration.”

In the early, deadly days of the AIDS epidemic, activists brought celebratory safe sex education to bars and clubs to bolster LGBTQ+ communities while learning new habits to keep each other healthy. With Covid-19, 100% safety demands we stay frozen inside our homes—but PTSD is much more likely to occur if a person is immobilized, or helpless to respond to a danger. For those of us not doing double shifts in the front lines of hospitals, protests, grocery stores and distribution warehouses, what is the impact of sitting paralyzed and alone with our devices, endlessly scrolling through frightening headlines? How can we learn new habits of togetherness that keep each other safe and sane?

The Emergency Dance Party Network hosts live movement experiments in physical and virtual space, responding to the evolving demands of quarantine and providing basic first aid of connection, motion and play.

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EDPN #1: Distance Dance Party

A social “social distancing” training, in collaboration with Ariana Jacob

In a parking lot divided into a pattern of 9’ chalk circles, live humans gathered at a careful distance around a speaker and a laptop running a virtual meeting for remote attendees. We danced, together but apart, inside and outside, live and virtual, to a boppin’ playlist by KBOO’s Seamstress of Sound.

Documentation by Xie Jie “Salty” Ng, Mack McFarland, Jordan Rosenblum and Zeph Fishlyn

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EDPN #2-8: All-Virtual Dance Party Experiments

In response to shelter-in-place ordinances, subsequent EDPNs explored the possibilities of purely virtual gatherings while still engaging with outdoor space and embodiment.

EDPN #9: Live/Virtual Hybrid Dance Party

As shelter-in-place orders ease, the live/virtual hybrid dance party is back! Handmade props facilitate physical distancing, and playful movement prompts engage virtual dancers. This dance party was the culminating event of City Repair’s 2020 Village Building Convergence, with DJing by the Seamstress of Sound, tech support by Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr., and photography by Emily Fitzgerald.