Techno contra is not just an East Coast phenomenon. Chelsea Co is the mastermind behind a techno contra at Fremont Abbey and the Binary Blackout in Seattle, Washington. She was kind enough to take the time out of her busy schedule and tell Contra Syncretist about her experiences organizing both events:
“One of my core motives in life is creative collaboration,” says Chelsea. “It is something that I feel allows individuals to come together to create a product that is vibrant, powerful and inspiring. A techno contra is one of the best instances that I have experienced such a creative collaboration. The DJ, the caller, the visual technician, the hall, and the dancers all come together to create an energy that thrives and pulses throughout everyone's body and soul and pushes us further towards euphoria. And that euphoria is one of the greatest gifts I have ever had the pleasure of giving to people!” She also admits that she was “fed up with the fact that the East Coast was having techno contras a plenty and the West Coast was barren! So I was sought to fix that immediately.”
“One of my core motives in life is creative collaboration,” says Chelsea. “It is something that I feel allows individuals to come together to create a product that is vibrant, powerful and inspiring. A techno contra is one of the best instances that I have experienced such a creative collaboration. The DJ, the caller, the visual technician, the hall, and the dancers all come together to create an energy that thrives and pulses throughout everyone's body and soul and pushes us further towards euphoria. And that euphoria is one of the greatest gifts I have ever had the pleasure of giving to people!” She also admits that she was “fed up with the fact that the East Coast was having techno contras a plenty and the West Coast was barren! So I was sought to fix that immediately.”
For the first techno contra in Fremont Abbey in December 2009, Chelsea enlisted the help of Marlin Prowell as caller and Bennett Schatz for the music. “For the second one in August 2010, Wendy Graham called, which was an utter love story. I met her while dancing to her calling in New York during February 2010 and decided that I NEEDED her to call my next one! But she couldn't do Memorial Day weekend, and so I rescheduled it to August so that she could. Bennett did such a phenomenal job that he had to be part of the team again. And this one was held at Sonny Newman's dance hall which held down the energy in a more contained space and really kept the dancers thriving with the beats.”
For a dance space, “I definitely took suggestions for dance halls that people enjoyed dancing at, but what also came into play was availability. The Fremont Abbey was great, but wasn't exactly what I wanted but given the time (the holiday season of December) it was definitely the best option. Once I had gone through the process of organizing a techno contra once, the second time was a lot easier and I knew what I was looking for. The rest was for the most part personal choice.”
She says the first contra didn’t really have a theme, but “the second one was definitely a futuristic space theme, as it was called the Binary Blackout. A few people went all out on this one, gluing glow-in-the-dark stars to their clothes or donning some excellent alien accessories. For encouragement, the flyers and Facebook group mentioned the theme and whenever I was at a dance, I would invite them to the dance and let them know the theme and get them pumped about it.”
The decision to charge admission did not seem to be a hard one: “I did charge, on account of being able to afford the caller, DJ, dance hall and extra materials for decorations. I think its very important to compensate your team members for their contributions, because although they are having an absolutely grand time, they are still utilizing their skills and putting their maximum effort and important time into it.”
As with any endeavor, however, there were challenges. Chelsea says, “The first time, the biggest challenge was well...finding everyone and everything I needed. I know that's broad, but the truth is that tracking everyone down and starting from scratch was incredibly stressful and difficult, especially given that I had such a short time period to organize it. Once I had figured out the basics of who was calling, making music, the hall and the lights, it was a matter of booking them on a date that worked for everyone. Getting off the ground is really the hardest part, but once you get your momentum going, the whole process gets a lot easier.”
The results encouraged Chelsea to try her hand at organizing a techno contra a second time. “The first one went over alright, others said it was brilliant but it was still lacking a certain energy that I was striving for. The energy of a techno contra needs to be contained and have constant spring and womp to it, but it just dissipated into the ceiling with the first one. The second one though, oh man, we brought the house down. It was incredible. The music was throbbing in everyone’s soul, the lasers we got were insanely awesome, Wendy [Graham] was more than amazing with her alternate space cowgirl ego and the dancers were a lot more aware of the way a techno contra works and the way they jive, West Coast dancers hadn't really been able to experience what a techno contra was all about or how they flowed before the techno I threw in December 2009, so by August 2010, they were pros.”
There were other changes, as well: “[I] was driven on account of wanting to make [a techno contra] that was even better than the first. Which I felt actually did happen. What I did differently, was that I found a caller who I felt really embodied the revolutionary spirit of techno contra, I had a live DJ, whereas the first one was just a CD, I had different lights (black lights, lasers, fog machine, blinking Christmas lights even!) and most importantly a different hall. Sonny Newman's was seriously the most wonderful and perfect place to have a techno contra.”
In looking back on it, Chelsea has this to say: “As I said before, a techno contra is a creative collaboration between the organizer, the caller, the DJ, the visual tech (if you have one) and the dancers. It is not at all a competition as to who can dance the fastest or sexiest or who has the best outfit; it’s about having a great time, it’s about trying old traditions in a new light, it’s about having fun as a community and it’s definitely, most certainly about releasing your mind, and letting the energyof the music rock your world.”
A special thank-you to Chelsea Co for taking the time to contribute her thoughts to the ongoing dialogue.
