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-- iDance Cancelled........
iDance Cancelled........
This is fresh from Wednesday's Star.
http://torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1026143485514&call_page=TS_Entertainment&call_pageid=968867495754&call_pagepath=Entertainment/News&col=969483191630
really to bad.
Rave culture celebration cancelled
iDance a victim of rising costs and a dwindling audience in Toronto
By Ben Rayner
Pop Music Critic
Dwindling corporate-sponsorship dollars and spiralling costs have put a stop, at least temporarily, to hopes of turning Toronto's massive, open-air electronic-music festival iDance into an annual event.
Organizers had floated the idea of bringing iDance � which began two summers ago as a beat-fuelled protest rally intent on overturning a city-council ban on raves on city property � back for a third run this summer after last year's free party drew an estimated 30,000 electronic-music fans, roughly double its original attendance, to Nathan Phillips Square on the Labour Day long weekend.
That plan has been shelved, however, because the non-profit event has been unable to locate enough corporate sponsors (last year's biggest were the Microsoft Xbox and The Star) willing to cover its costs.
"We very quickly found out that most companies that would sponsor this kind of thing had much smaller budgets than they did last year, as a result partly of Sept. 11," says iDance president Will Chang, adding insurance costs for the event were also quoted at "about seven times what we paid last year" in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the U.S.
"At the end of the day, it's really just that the money wasn't there. We didn't make any money last year, and in fact, we lost quite a bit of money that actually came out of our own pockets....
"Unfortunately, the only companies these days that will sponsor an event of this size are cigarette and beer companies like Smirnoff and Bacardi and Benson & Hedges, and they can only sponsor 19-plus events. We didn't want to do iDance on a smaller scale, and we certainly didn't want to make it a 19-plus event."
Still, says Chang, it should be rememberd that iDance accomplished its original goals of getting the City of Toronto to relax the knee-jerk war it briefly waged on raves in 2000, opening a dialogue between promoters and the police and "giving the electronic-party industry some cultural legitimacy in the eyes of the media." And, he adds, no one has ruled out doing another party in the future.
The passing of iDance nevertheless means the loss of a unifying point for Toronto's splintered electronic-music community, which, frustrated at a lack of venues, dwindling crowds and the rising cost of hiring paid-duty police officers for security, among other things, has largely abandoned the enormous parties that were common two or three years ago in favour of club nights in licensed venues and smaller underground events. Younger dance-music fans lose out, since all-ages events catering to the non-drinking crowd are few and far between these days.
"The rave scene is dead, it's finished, it's over. It's gone," says Alex D., editor/publisher of the long-running Toronto nightlife magazine Tribe. "For the last few months, everyone I meet � friends, DJs, promoters � I ask: `What do you think happened?' And nobody really knows. Nobody knows where everybody went and nobody knows what's going to become of the scene....
"I liken it to stacking pennies. You can keep stacking them so they get higher and higher and better looking and more valuable, but there comes a point where it's going to topple over."
>I don't know what to say, is the rave scene dead??
too bad, I had fun last year, although there was a little too much D&B played!
too bad, i had fun last year...
This stinks to the high end, last year�s was pretty solid especially towards the ending. Dave Clarke totally ripped it up, it was a sick set!
This is.... sadly old news.
It was posted about a month ago on the HullaLife and Tribe message boards. (seeing as iDance was a rave thing... not a club thing)
Even sadder, was that this was to be expected. Kids were doing fucking drugs in the crowd and stuff. And the security issue was too much to handle supposedly. Fuck... this IS a city of toronto run event... they can assign cops to NPS free-of-charge...
Ugh...
damn this is really sad, but I can see why they had to cancel it this year. Seems like cost of everything is going up. Too bad because I really had a great time last year and was really looking forward to this years.
that article made me sad.....
corporate sponsors is whats happening, exactly as he said.....
its going to change things, the underground scene was alot nicer
:[
awww.. true everything in it.. you hardly hear of a 'rave' any more these days. Itz all GoldClub parties everywhere, certainly for the younger generation they won't get a chance to be exposed to this kinda music at an early age like many of us did. itz also a shame cuz i really thought that iDance was gonna turn into an annual summer thing like Carribana and Pride Parade..
TO could have had their very own Love Parade with this thing .. guess not anymore..
and yet Detroit can still hav their Techno Music Festival and Miami their WMC.. guess TO is left in the dust .. :P
It looks like the only way we are going to have a political system that tolerates 'raves' is if we all move to Europe, or vote to separate from Canada and have our own Trance State. The fact that iDance was cancelled is not as bad as hearing that the scene itself is dying. I wish we could go back to the times where the huge parties were happening.
awwz..
itz seems like that in Europe the line between a rave and a club party is a lot more grey.. could partially be coz of their lax alcohol laws..
over here there's like a distinction between the two .. and it juss seems that this event being branded as more 'rave' could potential scare off more sponsors (not to mention that all companies are reporting losses this year).
what i really feel bad about is what this event could potentially become if it was really successful each year. I was really happy when they ended the garbage strike since it meant iDance could happen but i guess not anymore. If this was really successful each year think of the prospects, it could spill over into a huge street party and probably draw big name DJ's if the event got that popular and became something that people would drive/fly over just to attend...
man and i miss those big parties at the CNE .. :[
Re: awwz..
| quote: |
| Originally posted by dEsidEL man and i miss those big parties at the CNE .. :[ |
I miss them too, this is horrible news.
they organize these events to have fun, and then only a small bunch of fuckheads fuck it all up and ruin it for everyone.. so tired of those smartass's
I like free raves.
This has made my day blue.
But yes, this is old old older news than moldy cheese from Novembmer 2000.
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