Club & Electronic Dance
“Light, pulse and movement build a city within the night.”
History & cultural context
Club dance grew with disco in the 1970s and with the electronic music that followed. House music was born in Chicago — the name is linked to the Warehouse club, where Frankie Knuckles played — and techno in Detroit, through Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. In New York, Larry Levan's sets at the Paradise Garage shaped club culture.
Vogue grew from the ballroom scene of Harlem's Black and Latino LGBTQ communities, and waacking from the gay clubs of Los Angeles in the 1970s. In Europe, the Berlin Love Parade, first held in 1989, became a symbol of rave culture.
Masters, schools & legacy
The documentary Paris Is Burning (1990) brought the ballroom scene and dancers such as Willi Ninja to wide attention. House dance, voguing and waacking are now taught in workshops worldwide, but they remain rooted in the clubs and communities where they were born.
Dances of this world
Further reading
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