While the rest of Sydney was relatively quiet (perhaps due to the end of financial year and the impending interest rate rise), the Earthdance launch party was packed. The electronic music dance equivalent of Live 8, Earthdance is an annual charity event aimed at preserving dance culture and encouraging biodiversity.

One gentlemen, who I think was a little high, was telling me that it was all about sacrifice. And it is true, the Earthdance collective only exists because of the dedication of volunteers, event organizers, the DJs who play for free and of course, the party people who support this entourage. Everyone chips in, and the supporters compete amongst themselves for who will have the best stage or the biggest decibel output. And everyone has fun being involved in something with a higher calling.

Saturday night’s fundraiser event was full of lively punters from all walks of life. I found myself talking with one friendly man from Coldova in Italy, a nice affable chap from New Delhi in India and a couple of ‘gals’ from Manchester, England. It was refreshing to see Sydney as a global community – a place of diversity where people can get together, wherever they hail from, all in the name of having a good time.

Upon arrival, we started things off at the Clare Hotel where DJ Ritual was pumping out his seminal drum n bass sound. Unfortunately arriving late, we had missed out on the likes of Adi B, DJ Noodles, Noel Boogie and Basslines who had been playing since four in the arvo.

We then headed down to the Abercrombie where DJ Alex UP was playing some wild trance. I grabbed a jug of beer and we went to the outdoors stage, to discover that Mr Mark Murphy was relentlessly banging it out… This was what we had come to see! A hot and sweaty set of dirty minimal techno, and a venue full of punters who were doing nothing if not having it. Some of the other earlier performers had included Foreign Dub, Bump DJs and the Minimal Fuss crew, to name but a few. Next we caught the Deep as Fuck DJs, – including Riffaf and Marcotix who were playing in the same vein as Murphy and kept the dancefloor pumping till the early morning.

All in all a good night, and a great way to raise funds for Earthdance’s charity gala event, the festival that is scheduled for 16th September at Sydney Park. If you wanna have a ball and see some excellent dance music lineups, make sure you go down to this free event and shake your booty.

And just remember… Think Global. Dance Global.