About the Music

For the last ten years, we have evolved the dances into what they are today – an integral part of the Harbin experience. Our on-going vision for the Harbin dances is to bring dance experiences that are contemporary with the sounds and rhythms that have evolved in the last eight to ten years due to the underground music renaissance.

Now, musicians can produce sounds that could not be produced before. These vibrations can evoke different feelings and create new experiences in people that weren’t available before. In the last five to eight years, very talented musicians have been drawn to this new composing tool, starting a new underground dance movement and introducing a lot of people to the tribal and trance aspect of music and movement.

In electronica, the rhythms and sound patterns tend to be complex and three-dimensional, with layers laid on top of each other or interweaving. This music can be less accessible and more experimental than common pop or commercial music. It requires more “tuning in” by the listener or the dancer. But it has the ability to bring people into deep spiritual places, if they know how to go into it.

This musical movement is very dynamic. It is evolving constantly, with new sounds and rhythms being created, and an outpouring of new musical and dance ideas. Because the music is created on the computer, it can have three-dimensional “soundscapes,” which the dancers hear and move through. Some musicians use organic sounds mixed with electronic sounds, for example, the sounds of sitar, guitar, and piano mixed with bass and effects from a synthesizer, creating unique sound combinations.

Omer will frequently play songs which were released in the last two to three months, in order to evoke new physical explorations in the dancers. At Harbin, we look for DJs who are cutting-edge, with new stories to tell us which can take us into deeper dance experiences.

One aspect of electronica is its fast, repetitive rhythms. Musicians have used these sorts of rhythms for thousands of years, with the intention of taking dancers into trance. Sometimes electronica will use rhythms from Native America, Africa, Brazil, Morocco, etc.. Any culture with a deep connection to shamanism has its trance rhythms. At Harbin, we choose to use such rhythms to lead the dancers into a deep meditative, often ecstatic trance state.

For a party, where people are hanging out and talking, more accessible popular or commercial music is more appropriate. But some electronica opens doorways into a deeper spiritual experience, the sound and rhythm leading into trance.

When a song has words, the mind can get caught up in what the words are saying and analyzing the meaning (or singing along, even internally) rather than allowing the non-verbal, no-mind trance state to take over. Electronica does have forms of more popular accessible party music often used in clubs. But that’s not typically what we use at Harbin. We are trying to do something else here.

Trance is a form of meditation. During moments of listening deeply to the music and letting the body move freely, the mind stops. It’s a very pleasant, sometimes ecstatic, meditative experience.

It’s not for everybody, just like yoga, chanting, silent meditation, etc. are not for everyone. Some people cannot go there. Some people just want to move and dance. But some people want to have this meditative experience.

On nights when the trance falls deeply on the dance floor, there is a collective energy that happens between the dancers – a coming together and becoming one.

A lot of people associate this kind of music and dance environment with psychedelics and other drugs, i.e., the “rave environment” and yes, it does exist. Whole festivals can be devoted to it.

But at Harbin, we are trying to do it differently. Here we are letting the music, the rhythm and the dance take us to those “altered states of consciousness,” those places of bliss, without drugs.

Some people have resistance to electronica. Going into trance requires letting go. Sometimes the shadow shows up. There’s no guarantee it will be all sweetness and light. Some people prefer feeling more comfortable. But the dances at Harbin are not designed to be parties. They are events where people can communicate non-verbally through movement and sound, which helps people to bond and helps strengthen the community. But the dances are also a place of challenge, break-through, and deeper spiritual experience.

The focus is having the dances be more of a spiritual practice than just a social event. In general, our goal is not to play music just to please the crowd – it’s to bring music that is somewhat of a challenge, and to invite the dancers to have a new experiences. From our experience, people respond to the challenge.

If the music gets "too easy," they often complain about being bored or simply leave. Two years ago, people said that the music we were playing was "too difficult," but now when we play that same music, it is very accessible to them, even passe. So clearly the palates of our regular dancers have been changing and developing.

Harbin is a spiritual retreat center, and we are committed to having the dances provide a place for dance as a spiritual practice. People who want more of a party, or more of an accessible dance might find that the Tuesday and Thursday dances aren’t a good fit. Or they may find that at times they are in the space where the dances work for them and at other times the dances don’t.

Dancers do come and go. Someone may be a regular for three years and then stop for a year, then come back as a regular again. Other people know which DJs work for them, and only come to those dances. Some people come for only Tuesday or only Thursday, because these dances have a different feel.

But there are many dancers who come to dance after dance, night after night, year after year. Those are the dancers we look to for a deeper understanding of where to move next. The packed dance floors, the sweaty bodies, and the ecstatic glow on the dancers’ faces suggests that wherever we may eventually end up, we’re moving in the right direction.

Elaine Watt
Omer Nizri
Regina Nizri