DJ Guidelines for Ecstatic Dance Santa Barbara

Thanks for your interest in DJing for Ecstatic Dance SB! Aside from our resident DJ Ean Golden (who plays about half the time), we mostly book local DJs we can collaborate with closely. Our format and musical range are a bit different from typical ecstatic dances or festival sets, so we value working together over time to shape sets that resonate with our community.

We do sometimes bring in touring DJs—especially if you’re able to return to Santa Barbara a few times a year and are open to planning your set with us and receiving feedback. Our dancers love accessible, dynamic sets with a wide range of sounds. Sets that lean heavily on one style or feature many original tracks don’t usually land as well here.

If you’re up for adapting your sound and workshopping your set with us, we’d love to hear from you. If you're focused on showcasing a specific vibe or your own productions, we totally respect that—it just might mean this isn’t the right stop on your tour.

Outdoor Silent Disco (Weekly Weds, 6-8:15 PM, April - Oct)
A high-energy beachside dance party with 150+ people.

• A wide range of genres & BPMs (hit 5-10 distinct genres, more variety than club sets and festival sets).

• 2-3 big cathartic peaks but no deep “valleys.” Instead of ambient/relaxing tracks after big peaks, transition into sexy, groovy, or sing-a-long tracks. If the energy drops for too long folks will get cold and might leave the dance floor.

• Include at least a couple familiar sing-alongs (oldies, 90s, or early 2000s work well).

• Do not follow the classic Ecstatic BPM arc—start medium, keep it varied, and end on a high-energy note.

• Our crowd is mostly in their 20s & 30s, but we also have families, so balance modern music (hip-hop, bass, trap, dubstep) with more accessible tracks and keep the language (mostly) PG.

• Avoid stretches of more than 5-8 min of the same genre/tempo—this is not poolside lounge music. If the tracks start to sound too similar, people will take off their headphones and disengage.

• Listen to an example set from Ean Golden for reference.

Indoor Ecstatic Dance (Weekly Weds, 7-9 PM, Jan - March — Monthly First Fridays April - Oct)
A deeper, journey-style dance for 60+ people in a yoga studio.

• Typically three waves with BIG peaks and restful valleys.

• Less pop, more classic ecstatic dance vibes than Outdoors.

• Mostly adults (rarely, if ever, children) so gritty/dark tracks and sexy songs are welcome. Use discretion w/ language but less of a concern than for our outdoor sets.

• Listen to an example set from Ean Golden for reference.

General Guidelines for Both Events

• No need to mix everything. Switching up genre and BPM regularly is more important for us! OK to let songs end.

• Play in pockets of 2-4 songs of similar genre/BPM and then switch it up.

• Avoid spiritual/mantra-heavy tracks—our crowd isn’t super new age.

• Big, clear, cathartic peaks are key! Our dancers want to get loud, wild, and intense!

Next Steps

1. Listen to the example sets & note genre variety, BPM range, and energy peaks.

2. Submit a 30-45 min recorded set or an ordered Spotify playlist to ecstaticsb@gmail.com, specifying outdoor or indoor. All outdoor DJs should plan on workshopping their set w/ us before playing.

3. Sierra will follow up with next steps, pay rate info, and booking details.

For questions, reach out to Sierra at ecstaticsb@gmail.com.