Take one part alcohol, one part dance music, mix in equal parts male and female and you have the right recipe for a colourful night at the bar.
It’s the same dish two performers are serving up for their upcoming social experiment—the Electro Social Club—at the Arlington Bar and Grill tonight.
The night features live improv theatre, dance music, video, choreographed dance and musical performances in one complete show mirroring a night out at the bar.
It’s a project one year in the making that began when Rossland-based performer, Nadine Tremblay, and Australian DJ Rupert Keiller, wanted to combine their skills. Then the duo received a grant for an experimental music venture from the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance and the idea took shape.
“Initially, we just wanted to see how we could create music together,” Tremblay said.
“It took a lot longer than we planned, unfortunately. We were hoping to have this performed and done last fall, but this took a lot more work than we planned so we worked on this part-time for about a year and then full-time for the last three months.”
Tremblay, a member of Iron Mountain Theatre, began mixing melodies and writing music, while Keiller fine-tuned the tracks.
Keiller began working as a DJ in the early 1990s, primarily performing in Australia. His sounds flooded the Melbourne music scene, and he is often recognized for his part in the award winning band, Sonic Animation.
“These are essentially dance tracks that sound like traditional electronic music, in the sense that they’re bass heavy and totally dance-able. But then there’s a bit of a story to each song, which is an element of musical theatre.”
According to the duo, the music from Electro Social Club is a variety of electro-dance tracks including breakbeat, dubstep, hip hop, 80s pop, opera and much more. It features characters that we’ve all seen before—like the bouncer, the pick-up artist, the drinker, the couple and the exhibitionist dancer.
The show is interactive, with the characters revealing themselves around you, said Keiller.
“There’s definitely some improvisation and some live audience participation, nothing too scary though.”
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of spontaneously responding with musical compositions, by communicating with an audience through a wide range of emotions and instrumental techniques. But the group isn’t giving away too much information about the show.
“We’re just telling people to come prepared to dance and expect to be surprised,” Tremblay said.
Electro Social Club is performing at the Arlington Bar and Grill tonight, and Rossland’s Flying Steam Shovel on Friday.
Show up at 9 p.m. to warm up with DJ Incorrigible.
Tickets are $10 each and are being sold at Café Books and the Arlington Bar and Grill.
For more information, visit www.ironmountaintheatre.ca or http://www.dropcards.com/electrosocialclub/content/index.php.