Recently, people all around the world celebrated International Dance Day, a commemoration of different types of dance, recognizing how dance can break cultural barriers and bring people together. This year, the 40th anniversary of the holiday, we took a moment to appreciate our own connection with the art of dance through our unique relationship to music. When celebrating through dance, friends and family have often turned to trusted, high-quality HARMAN products to create an optimal environment. From the grand scale of a Martin professional laser light show to a backyard party with loved ones, HARMAN products have proudly elevated dance experiences to create unforgettable memories. In our latest Audio Talks podcast, we explored HARMAN products across our professional and consumer offerings that have a unique connection to dancing, and dive into the history of DJs and club culture.
Foundations of Dance Music
Speaking to Audio Talks Host Oisin Lunny, our guest Arne van Terphoven, author, dance music publicist, owner of the Mary Go Wild record shop in Amsterdam and founding member of Our Hose, a museum of club culture, explained just how we came to the legacy of dance music we know and love today.
“If you wanted to pick one moment that really defines the whole history of dance music, it’d be the beginning of disco in New York,” he said. “It’s pretty much the motherload of everything that came after. It was the birth of the DJ. It was the birth of the sound system. It was the birth of the 12-inch single. It was the birth of the nightclub as we know it now. There’s very little we do now that wasn’t available and wasn’t happening then.”
An integral part of the pop culture dance scene, nightclubs hold the power to influence trends and build relationships within the music community, and nothing defines a stellar nightclub experience quite like an equally stellar “lightscape.” As technological advances in the creative field of lighting and light design, lighting has transcended beyond a household tool into an expressive, accessible visual art form. Creative lighting design elevates live performances and performance spaces.
The HARMAN Connection
Just how does lighting create a lasting, memory-based experience? With durable fixtures, vivid colors and reliable automation, Martin Professional by HARMAN provides the tools necessary to bring bold and distinct creative lighting to any setting, from an outdoor public space to an intimate concert hall. Additionally, with the aid of advanced software and user-friendly digital control, creators and designers can refine their creations down to the pixel or millisecond. Take Aairport Festival, Denmark’s first music festival dedicated exclusively to electronic dance music, held its inaugural weekend in early 2020 with some of the biggest acts in the European EDM world. LiteNordic, Sound & Light and lighting designer Mikkel Stoklund Moltzen created a dynamic lighting design for the festival using Martin VDO Sceptron and Dotron creative LED video fixtures powered by the Martin P3 System Controller platform.
HARMAN Audio Products Powering Dance Music
HARMAN brands are often lauded for their ability to create audio products that bring elements of the world’s hottest nightclubs to your gatherings with friends. Recreating club moments in your own personalized setting with products such as the JBL PartyBox 1000! This impressive speaker packs a punch with unique features and killer sound, boasting a whopping 1100W power output and full panel light effects, holding the power to turn your summer nights into ultimate music memories. If you’re looking for a more compact, portable way to turn any space into a party-packed dancefloor, create your own 360-degree LED Lightshow from the JBL Pulse 4! Power all of your dance-centric celebrations with the Pulse 4 360-degree speaker array that delivers sound in every direction. Just one charge gives you 12 hours of playback time and its IPX7 waterproof design makes it perfect for bringing the party to any location, inside or outside. Don’t forget to take advantage of JBL’s PartyBoost technology, which allows you to connect multiple JBL PartyBoost-compatible speakers for unmatched stereo sound.
Dance is one of the best ways for all of us to showcase our happiness, cultures, and connection to the world around us. Exceptional music is a key element in sparking that desire to dance. As HARMAN and its family of brands have done for over 75 years, we’ll proudly continue to bring our products, passion and expertise to the world of music, audio and dance. From the legendary Woodstock Festival to the festivals of today and beyond, we can’t wait to see how our audio technologies continue elevating audio experiences for every occasion.