In the past, the Tastyfresh e-zine has featured articles examining the history of North American Christians and their involvement with dance music culture, but has treated the issue largely from the standpoint of the music industry, dealing with it as a market rather than a subculture. Any history of a Christian dance scene must include not only the producers of the music and the DJs that spin it, but also the variety of venues, the myriad of events, and the differing motivations that exist for throwing parties – outreach, worship, the desire to kick out the jams, whatever. Dance music events are a key element of the subculture and should not be treated lightly. Recent discussions on the topic have taken the tone of resigned pessimism tempered with hope for the future, demonstrated by the Tastyfresh Groove Fellowship initiative.

A common criticism whenever Christian involvement in a musical or cultural scene comes to light is that they are behind the times, bandwagon-jumping latecomers looking to appropriate a dying scene for their own purposes. The truth is a little more complicated than that. Cursory research reveals at least 150 events of all kinds – 7PM-midnight microraves, illegal all-nighters, church-sanctioned dance parties, and club nights, among others, going back a decade, which proves that in conception if not always in execution, Christians haven’t lagged far behind the larger scene at all, breathing the same air while occasionally nipping at its heels. At worst, the scene-within-a-scene can be accused of being ‘middle school.’ At best, it was a much-needed breath of fresh air. Given the transitory nature of dance music culture, it is no surprise that the events are largely forgotten.

Internally, other factors obscure the history of Christian dance events. Whether through a constant turnover of participants, a lack of unity, or willful ignorance, each generation of Christians involved in the EDM scene seems to feel that they are trailblazers charting new territory. Certainly, the scene does have its pioneers, its first generation, but the 1990s are starting to feel very far away, and the efforts of those that followed after the scene’s humble beginnings need, sometimes desperately, to be put into context. Fresh perspectives are key, but it’s all too easy to reinvent the wheel if you’ve never seen the blueprints. The early 2000s are littered with the remains of unprepared events and fledgling ministries that could have benefited from the all-too-ignored voice of experience.

The following is a snapshot overview of the sorts of events put on by Christians in North America in the past decade or so. Whether or not the event organizers consciously felt they were participating in the “Christian scene” or not, their events are linked by common values, often times a common pool of DJ-ing talent, and most importantly, the fact that I’ve dug through flyer collections, dozens of news articles, and internet archives to connect these dots. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Please note that the events listed below do not constitute an exhaustive list, as one article could not hope to fully describe the infamous “Christian dance scene.” All credit where credit is due; the scene’s not that small.

Repetitive Beats

Around the time that the historic Firestone club was opening in Orlando, Florida, Tastyfresh founder Jamey Wright was persuading the owner of Jacksonville’s Murray Hill Theatre to host recurring dance events with a Christian theme. Wright’s efforts paved the way for Fusion, which has the distinction of being Jacksonville’s longest running electronic music event on both sides of the Christian/secular divide. Fusion’s near-unbroken string of events dating back to 1999 has made it an anchor of sorts in a sea of changing tastes and changing vibes.

One of the other longest-running recurring events, Illumination, is put on by Phantasmos productions and has been in operation since April 14, 2000 in the Connecticut area.

Christian clubbing has been aided by the opening of several purpose-built venues, like the aforementioned Murray Hill Theatre, as well as The Underground in Cincinnati, Ohio. “Most seasoned clubgoers are amazed with the venue and what it has to offer,” says Cindy Tucker, one of The Underground’s organizers. Metro Rags & Java, a Christian coffeehouse in Santa Monica, was the location for Found’s seminal weekly, Tonic, in 1998.

Unfortunately, most club nights find it difficult to sustain a party week-in and week-out, and tend to be short-lived, like Toronto’s “Revolution” that debuted at Club 160, a nightclub in the heart of the city’s entertainment and record-shopping district but only lasted for two weeks.

Church Raves

This is probably the most flogged stereotype when it comes to Christian events, aided by classic send-ups on websites like landoverbaptist.org and ishkur.com.

Parties thrown in church venues have their own benefits and drawbacks. Organizations like Different Sect (Ohio) and Unified Soul (Toronto, Canada) were fortunate enough to be linked to churches that all but screamed for events to be thrown there, featuring large, warehouse-like open spaces (and in the case of Unified Soul, multiple spaces) that once cleared of furniture could house hundreds of partygoers without them bumping into pews and stumbling over hymnals. Tribes 02: The New Model, a youth all-nighter with a dance music twist, was thrown in a church that occupied an old YMCA space in Sarnia, Ontario, which allowed the promoters to decorate several rooms featuring different genres for a multisensory experience.

For some partygoers, the idea of throwing down and losing it in a ‘sacred space’ is too weird to contemplate; I lost track of the number of times I’d see a crowd of confused ravers smoking nervously outside a church, unsure of whether to go in or go home, while inside the DJ played to an empty dancefloor. Unless the promoters could foster the notion that this was a renegade break-in party in a church, they were not usually seen as credible venues by skeptical partykids. In other cases, no amount of decoration could conceal the fact that the venue was a traditional church sanctuary, and as any dancer will tell you, slightly sloping carpeted floor is not the best surface for physical activity, even if altars or communion tables are great flat spaces to set up decks. “I think Christians will go to an all-night party before ravers will go to a church rave,” says Bryan Ketler, who has thrown events with the Electro Spirit Crew in Ohio.

Getting one’s foot in the door at a church often means compromising one’s vision at the behest of the authorities, and the event can sometimes wind up being held under the auspices of the church’s youth or young adult programs. “All ages” events I’ve attended at churches ended up having children running around with glowsticks, which sent street cred flying out the window faster than a punted Teletubby. The intended audience for the event can also be muddled depending on how the promotion is handled - Tribes 02 was marketed as an electronic music worship conference but filled up with youth group participants armed with sleeping bags like any other church lock-in.

Is it a Christian party, or a party thrown by Christians?

Whether as vehicles for outreach or pure entertainment, events thrown by Christians that have no obvious ties to a church or ministry organization have a long history in North America. Religious references at the Innerglo event held in Hagerstown, Maryland in October 1997 were limited to cross-shaped glow sticks, for example.

One advantage to these sorts of events is credibility with the more serious students of the subculture. Mostly all-nighters, these parties sometimes feature mixed lineups of Christian and non-Christian performers, actually participating and integrating into the local culture of a given scene. “If I was having an outreach or party just to party, I would try to have it in a central location, like a VFW, banquet hall, teen club, etc. You'd be amazed though at how many non-believers end up at outreaches,” says Ketler.

These events are undertaken with a considerable amount of risk, given the war on raves in North America in the past few years. The preemptive shutdown of Illumination’s one-year anniversary party after a fire marshal’s inspection caused a minor media circus in East Hartford, CT back in May 2001. The event’s spiritual underpinnings, as well as Phantasmos’ thorough preparations to ensure a lack of drugs at the party did nothing to impress the city’s authorities. Promoters who choose to run events in unlicensed venues face the same risks as those in the larger scene.

The issue of drugs can be the Achilles’ heel for such events, as promoters are effectively on their own to come up with ways of screening attendees who might not abide by straight-edge values. Found Ontario promoters bought out the bar to ensure that alcohol would not be sold at their 2001 all-ages event “Guidance” only to see bottles in the hands of its attendees minutes after the party started and a smirk on the face of the nightclub owner.

Local politics affect party promoters of all stripes. Toronto police effectively priced promoters out of the rave market by demanding that a large number of paid duty officers be hired at exorbitant hourly rates to provide extra security.

When done right, these events can occupy positions of renown in the history of a local scene. Found Ontario’s “Together Again,” held in December 2000, is still considered by many partygoers to be one of the best events ever held in Ontario’s tri-city region, while “Redemption,” a 2001 event put on by Focused Underground Spirituality Environment (FUSE), was voted “Party of the Year” by admiring Minneapolis ravers. Redemption is also remembered as one of the last true raves ever held in Minnesota.

Naysayers take note: all-night one-off dance events still regularly happen in North America, whether they are called raves or Teknivals or nothing at all.

Festival Sideshows

Electronic music has also had a home on the periphery of many Christian music festivals. The longest-running and most well known of these is of course the Dance Tent at the annual Cornerstone Music Festival in Illinois. Over the past decade it has transformed from an all-night rave to a dance music label showcase back to a DJ-based party (albeit an abbreviated one), moving from a tent to the permanent “Dance Barn,” with many ups and downs in between. Other festivals have also incorporated dance music in recent years. Phantasmos carved out a niche for itself at New Hampshire’s Soulfest from 2002-2004. Further west, Washington’s Tomfest regularly features dance music artists, and Xfest in Oregon as well as this year’s installment of Joshuafest in California included after-hours events.

Worship Events

One of the oldest types of Christian dance event, the DJ-led worship party can trace its roots to the UK’s alt.worship scene and controversial experiments like LA’s Techno Cosmic Mass in the early 90s. Reading, PA’s Club Worship, for example, has been in operation since April 2000, its longevity rivaling Illumination and Fusion. “The worship is a led by a worship leader with a team approach – the DJ and the worship leader, and the visual people work together to create an atmosphere where peoples’ hearts are moved toward connecting with God on the dance floor,” says Club Worship founder Jeff Stoltzfus.  “Of course the sound system and the lights make the place really move, but when it comes down to it, everything is secondary to the worship.  Dancing before the Lord – worshipping on the dancefloor.”

Dance music worship events can also be considered the latest development in a long history of introducing new sounds and musical instruments into a church setting. The 2000s have seen an increasing number of DJs included as performers at youth conferences and as part of worship teams across North America.

Putting the ‘Art’ in Party

Fusing art and music with faith, the avant-garde art party is a newer feature in the scene. Skycalled’s western Canadian events such as Sky Pilot in June 2005 and the Easter 2001 collaboration between the Icthus and Found LA collectives are key examples where sound, light, and visuals combined to get a spiritual point across to attendees without a focus on the dancefloor.

Conclusion

The first step that usually happens after something has been categorized is a total breakdown of the barriers between categories, and many of the events mentioned above can easily straddle the line between two or more variants. Not all worship events take place in a church setting, and some churches have been friendly to the concept of all-night dance events. “I would say that the 'purpose' of our events is really a blend of outreach, encouragement, worship, fellowship, and entertainment among other things,” says The Underground’s Cindy Tucker.  “The beauty of an event is it can be different things to different people.” Other groups have seen their events change from one form to another over the years as they feel out the right niche for themselves. Fusion’s events were club-focused at the outset and have shifted gears to cater to a younger market in recent years. “We really try to make it clear that we aren't on a mission to make clubbers out of local teens,” says Fusion leader Bill Sikes in reference to Fusion’s current incarnation that features music from 8:15 to 11:15PM with a pizza party for its attendees afterwards.

Christian events came on the scene in increasing force during the decidedly ‘middle-school’ era of the rave scene as its first and second waves began to subside. Events of all kinds have regularly occurred in California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Connecticut and Maryland, as well as southern Ontario, Canada, going back to the mid-90s, and that’s no slouch as far as the grand scale of the EDM scene is concerned.