EditorialInterviews

Interview: BODY LVNGUAGE Founder Tasha Blank On Dance, Freedom, & Their AREA15 Event

Dance is a freedom of expression and dance is what guides BODY LVNGUAGE

BODY LVNGUAGE is an early evening party all about getting back to what makes dance the ultimate form of communication, release, and liveliness.

This party isn’t about forgetting your own name or staying up as late (or as early) as you can. It’s about bringing back the early days when music was king and the only thing needed to escape.

On Monday, April 24, BODY LVNGUAGE is coming to Las Vegas to bring their spiritual ethos to AREA15.

Experience one of AREA15’s newest and most intimate venues, The Wall, for a party made for connection and freedom.

Tickets are still available here.

EDM Maniac spoke with Tasha Blank, the organizer of BODY LVNGUAGE about their ten years of body and spirit connection:

EDM Maniac: Nice to meet you, Tasha! So first off, what is BODY LVNGUAGE for those who haven’t heard of it? 

Tasha Blank: BODY LVNGUAGE is a wild-as-fuck, early evening dance party all about movement. It’s all about sweating and it’s all about expression.

We have three ground rules that help us make it a safe space: No drinks on the dance floor, no phones allowed, and love and respect for everyone. It’s really about creating a safe space for free expression in a club setting.

EDM Maniac: What kind of music do you guys normally play? Is there a specific genre?

Tasha Blank: I like to take people on a journey. So personally, I center in house, but I’ll start at like a 90 BPM tempo and ramp it up. And then we’ll end in a completely different place than where we started and I’ll bring in all different kinds of genres.

Next Monday in Vegas it’s going to be me on the decks all evening. At the end of the day, it’s all about dancing. It’s all about the vibe. It’s all about bringing in DJs who understand movement and are a dancer’s DJ.

EDM Maniac: So is there a PLUR aspect to BODY LVNGUAGE as well?

Tasha Blank: You could call it that. I mean the rave scene was definitely its own thing and I think people get caught up with the very late-night, substance-heavy thing.

We really want BODY LVNGUAGE to be something that you could do every week and that makes you feel better in the long run, not worse.

And I think I’m a strong believer that we can access all those states of consciousness from dancing alone. So over the last decade, we’ve been refining the science of how to create a dance floor that just creates that vibe for everybody without substances.

EDM Maniac: So it’s a “less drinks, more fun” type of thing?

Tasha Blank: Exactly. We do allow drinks. It’s not a sober event, but it is the kind of place where people who are sober intentionally can feel okay.

I think also drinks just interfere with a good dance floor because you’re inevitably going to spill and you can’t really dance with drinks in your hand or it gets messy.

EDM Maniac: So what is the history of BODY LVNGUAGE? 

Tasha Blank: We just celebrated our 10-year anniversary in New York last month! I started when I was first learning to DJ and I approached Cielo in New York City, which at the time had the best sound system in the country, every panel in the wall was tuned to a different frequency and it was amazing.

I approached them and was like, “Hey, you guys are dark before you open to the public at 10PM, What are you doing from seven to 10?” And that’s where I pitched that idea of creating a dance floor that feels like a rager at 2AM in Berlin, but it’s actually 8PM and you get to go home after and go to sleep.

It’s all about being a reset and that opportunity to come back to who we really are. To release the stress, to release the pent-up emotions that we’ve got when we’re sitting at our desks all day, and gain access to our full humanity.

Human beings are kind of meant to dance together and gather in community and celebrate and express themselves through more than just a computer.

When people leave, they feel like they’ve got access to their creativity again and they’re in a flow state the next day at work.

EDM Maniac: What makes The Wall at AREA15 the perfect setting for BODY LVNGUAGE?

Tasha Blank: The Wall is kind of perfect because it’s not too big and still holds the energy, but it’s really a no-frills venue. It’s all about the music and the people who are there.

I like the idea of it being intimate so you can communicate and connect with other people. Connection to self, connection to others. I would say it’s all about disconnecting from our phones and the rest of our lives to reconnect to what’s real in this moment.

Check out the sound of BODY LVNGUAGE on their Soundcloud below and grab tickets to their event at AREA15 on Monday, April 24 here.

 

All images provided by BODY LVNGUAGE

Written by
Danielle Levy

Danielle Levy is an MBA with a concentration in Corporate Social Responsibility. Danielle has several years of experience in the sustainability education world and has held various positions in human resources and intern management. Danielle is passionate about the ties between sustainability and social impact.

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