Sip some booze in your dancin’ shoes – while the neighbors snooze

The word “disco” might be passé, but dance clubs and EDM (electronic dance music - the exact same thing) are still wildly popular around the world. Powerful sound systems fire bass-laden grooves onto the dance floor as partiers gyrate to their hearts’ content. In fact, coastal Delaware is fortunate to have at least one dance club that rivals many from New York to Miami.

As the sun sets on a warm summer evening, state-of-the-art lighting and pounding music systems flex their electronic muscles. And it’s a feast for the ears and the eyes! Dancers show off their best steps as multicolored lasers launch knife-edged beams over their heads. Glittering LED panels project intense polychromatic shapes as strobes hurl bursts of visible energy with split-second precision in perfect rhythm with … wait … there’s no music! The room is strangely quiet, other than clinking glasses and shuffling feet. What in the world are these people dancing to!?

Welcome to Silent Disco. Step a little closer: Every dancer is wearing headphones wirelessly connected to hidden transmitters throughout the room. When local noise ordinances kick in at night, the multi-thousand watt subwoofers, midrange projectors and tweeters must go silent. But it doesn’t matter: The dancing continues unabated, and I have to tell you that it’s quite a sight.

Silent disco first came onto the scene in Delaware at Firefly Music Festival in Dover (not without its own noise ordinances), and it all went perfectly. Dancers cavorted until 5 a.m. while the neighbors snoozed peacefully. In the past, Ivy, our very own glittering dance club in Dewey Beach, has also featured Silent Disco. Ivy fans are hoping it will make a comeback for the 2016 season.

According to owners of similarly equipped clubs, the most striking side-effect of silent disco happens when the dancers sing along with the music. Of course, most dancers do that; intoning “Jesse’s Girl” or “Don’t You Love Me Baby” or “She Works Hard for the Money” along with their favorite songs. But, up to now, nobody’s ever heard it over the sound system. And though you might sound really good to yourself (especially after a martini or three), the combined result in the otherwise quiet room is strikingly hilarious.

Does your favorite dance club feature Silent Disco? Drop in after midnight and find out! If so, order a cocktail, don your ‘phones and dance into the night. The neighbors will be none the wiser.