Imagine mesmerizing trance beats and an enchantingly unique ambience as you dance on the sea.
Or at least this is the nearest you’ll get to aquatic partying at tomorrow’s biggest trance event in southern Taiwan. DancePort 2010 will be held at Kaohsiung’s Ocean Theater, the only large-scale performance venue in Taiwan situated on the sea.
DancePort will host some of the trance world’s biggest global and local names, with a lineup including more than 10 artists, including Odin (大馬), techno spinner Kenji and house/trance mixer Eros. Also in the bag is a visual performance by the Samadhi VJ Team and fire dancers True Spin (火舞團).
The first of two international acts on the bill is Australian trance singer-songwriter Emma Hewitt, who first turned heads in the summer of 2007 with her global dance floor classic Carry Me Away. Hewitt’s ethereal vocals earned her three nominations at this year’s International Dance Music Awards.
What makes trance appealing is its strong emotional content, says Hewitt. “When tracks are produced well, the combination of beats, music and voice definitely has the ability to take people on a journey.”
Inspiration has come in many shapes and forms, and is also very much driven by sounds, she says. “When someone sends me a track or
|I hear some chords that inspire emotion, usually the melodies and words start taking shape from there.”
Hewitt will be performing a mixture of songs released over the last couple of years, including Waiting, Not Enough Time and Lasting Light. She will also sing her new track with Lange titled Live Forever, the first time the song will be performed live. Also watch out for “something unique,” a surprise Hewitt and the team are preparing especially for the event.
“I hear there are great party crowds in Taiwan, so I expect it could be quite crazy out there,” she said.
The second international act, English trance DJ The Thrillseekers (real name Steve Helstrip), has played more than 500 gigs in 70 countries over the past 10 years.
While some people think trance has had its day, Helstrip believes the genre has been evolving over the past few years. “We have seen a huge increase in new talent on the scene, with great new ideas,” he said.
At DancePort, Helstrip will showcase his Live Xtreme performance where he’ll rewire live on stage the biggest tracks from his career. For a teaser of what the show will be like, go to http://bit.ly/9nUu8x.
DancePort 2010 (電音港) tomorrow from 9pm to 6am at Ocean Theater (海上劇場), Lover’s Wharf (情人碼頭), Singda Port (興達港), Cieding Township, Kaohsiung County (高雄縣茄萣鄉). Admission is NT$1,000 at the door. NT$800 presale tickets are available at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks or online through www.spunite.com/danceport/english. Shuttle buses to the venue run from near Xingtian Temple (行天宮) in Taipei City, Tainan Train Station (臺南車站) and the Taiwan High Speed Rail’s Zuoying Station (高鐵左營車站) in Kaohsiung. For more information, go to
www.spunite.com/danceport/english.
Up north in Taipei, there’s a special treat at Luxy tonight as BounceOnDecks presents former DMC world champion Kentaro. Japan’s master turntablist, whose inspirations as far as scratching is concerned are Craze and Shortcut from the US, feeds on making his own unique sounds. “I get to create my own way of art, music, and I get to play them through a big sound system, that’s the most interesting thing,” he said.
Kentaro has recently been flexing his muscles as a music producer with his production debut, Enter. The album runs from funk and dubby downtempo soul to cosmic hip-hop.
What Kentaro loves most is “seeing people’s reactions when [I’m] performing; that is exciting … When crowds are feeling it the way I anticipated it to be, it’s a lot of fun.” On Kentaro’s menu for tonight is a bit of house, electro-dub step and drum ’n’ bass. It’s been a couple of years since he’s visited Taiwan, but “I always hear great things about Taipei people and the club scene here,” he said. “I can’t wait to come down this month!”
Supporting Kentaro tonight at Luxy is Taiwan’s own DMC finalist Noodles, along
with Mykal.
Night of Mayhem tonight from 10pm to 4am at Luxy, 5F, 201, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路四段201號5樓). Admission is NT$400 at the door.
On the Net: www.luxy-taipei.com.
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