Friday Night is Dance Night - The Elysium Cabaret

Friday nights are very busy ones for us dance groupies!

We start off at the very elegant Empire Room at 6pm, where the amazing Elysium Cabaret Dancers entertain us with their creativity through music and dance and their wonderful stage settings.

The Empire Room at Copperhead Road

Paul Woodrunner, the man behind this elegant venue as well as sometime dancer with the group, is on hand to greet the guests as they enter and move in to find the ideal chair for the upcoming performance.   It's best to arrive early to find a good spot near the stage and the music stream will entertain you while you wait.  Suddenly I Gotta Feeling with The Black Eyed Peas begins to play and the excitement in the air increases as everyone knows, with this theme song, the show is about to begin.   Gunner Von Phoenix, DJ and dancer with the group, announces the first dancer and the blue curtains open to reveal the set with the dancer or dancers in place and the show begins.  The group describes themselves as follows: Elysium Cabaret is a performance group that does a variety of acts, mostly dance. Something naughty, something nice, something wicked, something sweet, something hot, something cool... never know what we are going to do!  But you can count on surprises and a lot of fun!!  We are only limited by our imaginations!! Performing in The Empire Room at Copperhead Road!  Dedicated to friendship and honour above all. Each dancer choses the music, choreographs the dance and builds the set.  It's a very large stage so the sets are large and while some are simple others may be very detailed.  The talents of the performers as builders are showcased in the way they use lighting, particles and special effects as well as changing the set along the way and fading from one scene to another during one dance.  It may be a solo dance or a dance with multiple dancers but one dancer is the creator of each dance. I don't usually take photos during the performance as I am too busy enjoying it and trying to avoid crashing out.  Besides I think a video is more effective than still photos of dance so I'll show you one performed by the incredible Queen of Dance,  Babypea Von Phoenix with her partner and RL husband, Gunner Von Phoenix.   In this case Gunner choreographed the routine while Babypea built the set, with Gunner also videotaping the performance!   May I present Gunner and Babypea dancing to Parov Stelar's Booty Swing! The group consists of a large number of women (mostly) and men, not all of whom choreograph routines every week but many of them appear as "back-up" dancers for others.  The administrators and driving forces behind the group are Paul, Gunner and Babypea, Wiz Nirvana and Jilley Resident both of whom are also dancers.   The performance lasts for an hour.  Sometimes it's a little more, sometimes a little less.  Sometimes there's a theme, other times not.  All in all it's a very professional event on every level.   But for dance groupies, like Roni and me, the highlight of the evening is at the end of the show when the audience is invited onto the stage to dance in a group routine with the Elysium Cabaret dancers. One of the dancers chooses the music, choreographs these dances and creates a set and for five glorious minutes we can believe that we too are dance stars in Second Life.   Occasionally I manage to take a few photos during this although sometimes I just relax and enjoy it.    Roni leads the "Chorus Line" on the Stage at the Empire Room After this Gunner spins us some music and the dancers and audience adjourn to the Empire Room's nearby dance floor to wind down after the evening's wonderful performance.   Yes Friday night is dance night!   And that is not the end of the evening which I'll talk about in another post.  Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals.                                              ~Charles Baudelaire

The Electric Monocle - Electro Swing Anyone?

Pirate Lindy Hoppy!
Photo courtesy of Dax Dover

I first ran across Lindy Hopper (AKA Subversive Vavoom) when she was DJing for an opening at the Tart Art Gallery.   Although I couldn't stay long I was enjoying her music selections and patter and continued to play her stream through iTunes, while I was doing something else and IMed her to tell her so.   I even sent her a tip from afar!   

I discovered that she owned a club called the Electric Monocle, a modern day speakeasy, where she shares her passion for electro swing which was a quite "new to me" style of music and in fact is relatively new.  With a revival of an interest in swing dance in the mid nineties and new melodies in that style the genre began to become popular and the first Electro Swing club opened in London in 2009.  

Besides the very personable Lindy, several other DJs entertain the club patrons during the week, most notable being Speelo Snook, a longtime DJ in Second Life and a RL musician who brings his considerable knowledge of music to share with us, along with his wonderful choices in dance music.  "Professor" Pavi  spins tunes on another evening but I have yet to encounter him.

Roni - At the Electric Monocle

I persuaded Roni that we should try this club and we have spent many enjoyable evenings there since our first visit some months ago.   While Roni enjoys dance matching the music with her own dances, she really doesn't need to bring her own to The Electric Monocle.  Hopper has one of the best selections of dances on the grid by far.   There are over 450 dances in her dance ball and while that sounds incredibly daunting they are well organized and easy to navigate.

Where Hopper shines is thinking up themes and events, giving the patrons an excuse for going absolutely wild with costumes.  Often there is even a special build for the event.  Who can forget Purple Rain, the Prince Tribute with its grand stage where the audience joined "him" as back up dancers in an exuberant choreographed routine?  Silent Films, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Drag Kings and Faux Queens, Pirates and Ninjas, all these event evenings and more have been a lot of fun for those who attended.

Purple Rain -- Prince Tribute

Jo - with the red hair and glasses

The highlight of the week has become the Late Night Swingers event on Saturdays at 11pm SLT. Lindy Hopper was a burlesque dancer in Second Life for a long time and has many friends and supporters among the performance dancers, especially those of Guerilla Burlesque who often join her for this themed event. Like Lindy, they excel at costuming and it's a delight for the rest of us to see what they are wearing.

The full DJ schedule will resume in September so do yourself a favour and drop by the Electric Monocle and dance up a storm to the music at this very friendly club.   You can check Lindy's profile or her blog for the schedule.

Dance till the stars come down from the rafters 

 Dance, Dance, Dance till you drop.

~W.H. Auden