de Nachtpapegaai newsletter #1
Dear dancer,
There was a time when i was actively pursuing a career in writing. I studied language and communication, and had small copywriting and journalism gigs. I never managed to really break through and get a stable income from writing, so at some point I stopped trying. However, I come from a family of readers and writers, and so the urge to create meaningful bits of text remains. I still write for a blog about modern buddhism sometimes. And every now and then i start a new writing project, like this one!
I feel excited that my first call for subscribers was succesful, with almost thirty interested dancers. What a blessing to have a genuinely interested audience right from the start! As a thank you for being one of the first to subscribe to my news letter, I’d like to give you an opportunity to come to your next dance with me for niks, noppes, nada (for free, that is). Just send me a message when you want to come and I will be sure to take care of it.
There should be a possibility to comment on this news letter. I'm not sure yet how this works, but I would love to know your responses and input on what you'd like to see here.
On to the content:
- The spoken word track everybody keeps asking me about
- Why We Dance promotion
- Upcoming dances with de Nachtpapegaai
- Download my latest recorded set @ Bar Beton, Utrecht
When time pulls lives apart, hold your own..
In the past months I have been ending my sets with a spoken word track. It has had the same powerful effect on every dancefloor: dancers lying down on the floor, engaged silence, some quiet sobbing here and there, and at least two dancers asking me afterwards about the name of ‘that poem at the end’.
The track is called Hold Your Own, by British poet Kae Tempest. It is her most popular song, and it’s a classic by now. Highly recommend her other work as well (though maybe not for ecstatic dance but more for grindy metropolitan subway trips).
I played the track once in 2024, but in the past months I just couldn't get enough of it.
The lyrics, especially the first few lines, cut through my soul every time I hear it, leaving me soft and vulnerable so that the only thing I can do is close my eyes and listen and feel. The dancers also seem to get that too (and those who don’t seem to respect it enough to keep still during the song). It does get old at some point, so I've decided to not play it for a while in the coming sets.
Why We Dance
Ecstatic Dance Festival Holland is running a campaign which is part festival promotion, part general fun and part competition! Dancers are invited to tell their story: why do you dance, where do you like to dance and -omg- what is your lievelings-dj?
If you fill in a form (takes 3 minutes), you get a visual that you can share on social media. You then have a chance of winning a ticket for the next festival. For dj’s like me, there is something else to win: if enough dancers mention me as their favorite, I get a booking at some future festival.
I have to say that at first I felt some anticapitalist resistance to participating. Competition drives innovation and it also drives loneliness, making us all compete and work for the scarcity of goods so that we don’t have time for our children anymore.
But I realised that I was taking it a bit too far. A little game and competition is okay, and this campaign is probably just bringing to the surface what is already there. The festival is dear to me and I have alot of respect for the people who organise it, so I trust that it is ok. And also, I like being liked, so my dj ego wins over my Buddha nature this time (or maybe they are one and the same).
If you take part, you get a visual like the one below. If you share it on Insta or FB and tag the EDFH organisation you can win a ticket to the EDFH festival (which is a total bliss), and if you’re truly feeling it you can even mention me as your favorite dj. Or someone else - I promise that I won’t take personal offense if you mention one of my colleagues 😀.
Here’s the visual that I got:
About last weekend: download my set from ED Utrecht
Bar Beton is such an interesting place to dance. It is probably the biggest Ecstatic Dance in the Netherlands right now, with 100-150 dancers every Friday night. The location -at first sight- lacks ambiance, as it is a conference hall. But they’ve been dancing there for years, and the regular dancers exactly know what happens in every corner - stretch and meditation left of the booth, lower volume and more dancing space near the exit, connective dancing in the middle, and intense partying right in front of the booth. Furthermore, Bar Beton always has lots of new dancers: one time, we had more than 30 first-timers. For me this makes it always adventurous as well! I love the place and it is one of my favorite places to play.
Here’s the set from last Friday. I shared it through Google Drive, let me know if it works :)
Upcoming dances
Ottermeer Familiefestival - 6-9 June
Ecstatic Dance @ the Other Side Amsterdam, 22-6
Green Dream festival @ Energy Up, 27-6 t/m 29-6
Ecstatic Dance Zwolle (PLAY!), 4 July