Silent disco

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The concept of a silent party or silent disco involves party-goers dancing to music received directly into headphones. Most commonly, this will be music provided by a DJ who will broadcast via an FM transmitter with the signal being picked up by wireless headphone receivers worn by the silent party attendees. Another type of silent party involves the gathering of a group of people in an unconventional location to dance to music which they provide themselves via an MP3 player and conventional wired headphones.

The idea has been around since the 1990s espoused by eco-activists who found that the easiest way to get large numbers of people to certain areas, such as a forest that was being logged, was to put on a party. However, this could cause distress to animals living in the area, so a compromise solution was needed for particularly sensitive areas.

Since then the concept has evolved into the guerilla-type gatherings as seen at London's Victoria Station in 2005 and also into commercial ventures across the UK, Europe and worldwide.


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[edit] Silent disco occurrences

A silent disco at Victoria Station, London involving 4,000 participants[1] was mistaken as a flash mob by local media. To date this is the largest silent disco covered by popular media. The reason this disco - aside from its nature - is not truly considered a flash mob, is its lack of a set time period or dispersal plan. The event was broken up by police two hours later.

To date there have been numerous experiments with group audio-parties with headphones. A Silent Disco was staged at the Glastonbury Festival in 2005,[2] allowing the party to continue through the night but without disturbing the local residents with huge soundvolumes typical of such parties.

[edit] Silent disco/iPod FlashMob

A variation on the structured Silent Disco occurred on 11 October 2006 at Liverpool Street station in England when a flash mob danced on the station platform while individuals listened to their separate portable audio player. This is some times called Mobile Clubbing. [3]

A similar event occurred on 18 January 2007 in Bristo Square, Edinburgh, with over 300 people congregating at 10:30 pm to dance. Despite the cold weather, a large number of people stayed for several hours, dancing to their music. This event was organized through Facebook.

On Saturday 10 February 2007 from 6.42pm until around 7.42pm another flashmob occurred but this time at Paddington station in London. About 250 people participated.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stewart, Tim. "4,000 flash mob dancers startle commuters at Victoria", Evening Standard, 2007-04-05. Retrieved on 2007-05-03. 
  2. ^ Glastonbury Festival, 2005. "Music festival introduces 'silent disco'."
  3. ^ i-Pod flashmobbers dance in their hundreds at station
  4. ^ February Paddington Silent Mob

[edit] External links