DJ for Us!

Thank you for your interest in DJing for Ecstatic Dance Santa Barbara! We book both local and out-of-town DJs if they are the right fit for one of our 2 dances! To help you get a sense of what we’re looking for, please read the following:

Wednesday Beach Dance with Headphones

Every Wednesday, we host an outdoor silent disco party-meets-ecstatic dance at Chase Palm Park with 100-200 people. The sets are accessible and high-energy, so experience playing at clubs and parties is a plus. A majority of our dancers are in their 20’s and 30’s, so we play a lot of modern music, however, there are also older folks and families with kids and babies, so a whole set of just pop, hip hop, bass music, trap, and dubstep will alienate them. Because the setting is outdoors, there is not a tight container to hold long stretches of the same tempo or in the same genre (people will stop dancing and start mingling if the set is too monotonous). Keep in mind that towards the end of the night the weather cools down, and if the dance is too low-energy, people get cold and leave. Here is an example of a Wednesday set.

First Friday Indoor Ecstatic Dance

Our once a month indoor ecstatic dance is 80 - 120 people, mostly adults (fewer kids or older folks than Wednesday). This set is on a big sound system at a yoga studio and usually includes 3 waves with high peaks and restful sections between. Fridays are a deeper journey and less pop music than our Wednesday dance— you could say Fridays have a more classic “ecstatic dance” vibe. Here is an example of a Friday set.

General Guidelines

While we ask for clean mixing, do not be afraid to let a song end and play a new song at a completely different BPM or to switch the genre— you do not have to mix every track together since we want a broader range of BPMs throughout the set. We generally have “pockets” of 2-4 songs before switching it up.

While songs that help people go deep into their practice are welcome, our crowd is not heavily new age, and the “spiritual” music of many other ecstatic dances doesn’t work well. 

Our community is used to BIG and clear peaks, generally at least 2 in the course of a set.  Like in most ecstatic dances, there should be an arc of intensity, rather than a typical DJ set where the intensity stays around a 6 or 7 for the duration.

Familiar or classic songs that people can sing along to or be in a fun silly dance with are welcome ways of taking a break from a big peak. 

If you take away one thing: Our crowd thrives with a dynamic and broad range of genres and BPM throughout the sets. 

To move forward, send a 45-60 min recorded set or an ordered Spotify playlist to ecstaticsb@gmail.com, and specify which dance (outdoor Wednesday or indoor Friday) the demo is for. While we prefer to listen to a set made specifically for our dances, if you already have a pre-recorded set that is a good match, you can send that instead!  

Reach out to Sierra at ecstaticsb@gmail.com for any further clarification!