Friday Five
In the past few weeks, several heroes have emerged from this global pandemic: health care workers, grocery store employees, everyone staying home doing their part to flatten the curve — and video chat. Can we all just agree that we would be 100% worse off if we couldn’t see our fam, friends, and (dates?) on our phone screens right now?
Videoconferencing services like Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Houseparty have become crucial to our collective well-being during social distancing. Everything from school to work to fitness classes are now virtual. One more to add to the list: dance parties.
Sign-up for The Bold Italic newsletter to get the best content about life in the Bay Area in your inbox every week. What could go wrong?
You read that right. Just because da clubs are closed, you can still get down and dirty in your living room with others doing the same on the screen. Dancing is super therapeutic. It’s great exercise and just makes you smile.
So we’re here to share with you where you can find them this week.
1. Breath & Beats
In a non-coronavirus world, Oakland yoga teacher Bekah Andrew usually hosts a “breath and beats” class on Friday nights with her husband, Nick. Andrew teaches yoga, and her husband DJs a dance party afterward. Sounds fun, right? Well, it’s still happening every Friday night on their Twitch channel. Yoga with the DJ beats takes place at 5:30pm PT, when the dance party starts. You don’t need a code or an app to join—just click on this link. The event is free, but if you want to support the couple (who also have recorded dance-free yoga classes on Andrew’s website), you can Venmo her at @bekah-andrew (the last four digits of her phone number are 2557).
Breath & Beats | Twitch
2. N2N Music DJ Dance Party
If you usually spend Saturday nights at Public Works or Monarch in San Francisco, this one’s for you. Why not dress like you’re going out on a Saturday night and dance like nobody’s watching (because it’s quite literally possible nobody is)? Local DJs N2N have been hosting dance parties on Twitch every Saturday night at 9p.m. PT and will keep hosting them until everyone can get together and dance again IRL. All you have to do is click on this link and get ready to get your boogie on. Who said you didn’t have weekend plans?
N2N Music Dance Party | Instagram
3. Space Cowboys Live Set
Space Cowboys is a collective of San Francisco–based DJs who have day jobs ranging from engineers to nurses to therapists. And while you can usually find them spinning at clubs like Monarch in San Francisco, they’ve also jumped on the virtual dance party train. This Saturday, starting at 6 p.m. PT, you can tune in to their dance party on their Twitch channel. The past two weekends, this collective has also been raising funds for Covid-19-related causes as part of their live event. This weekend’s lineup has yet to be announced; follow their Facebook page for updates.
Space Cowboys | Website
4. Dance Church
If you’re already too busy this weekend—it happens, people are Zooming like crazy these days—you can still catch a dance party in the middle of the week. Enter: Dance Church, founded by Kate Wallich. While it’s not hosted by local DJs, we’ve seen a lot of locals raving about it on social media. Every Wednesday night at 5 p.m. PT and 8 p.m. PT, you can dance out all your stress and worries. Seriously, sometimes there is nothing better than moving to the music. This virtual event is free, but donations are accepted.
Dance Church | Website
5. Start your own dance party
Life is hard right now, and it’s totally normal to be sad, stressed, and anxious. And it’s even harder because we can’t physically be with each other. However, as humans we will always find a way to connect, because we need each other to survive. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that maybe you’re talking to friends and family, perhaps people you usually wouldn’t hang with on video chat. Dancing is exercise, and exercise makes you happy. So take these digital moments to the next level and start your own dance party this weekend. You can host it on Zoom, Google Hangouts, or Houseparty—whatever you feel most comfortable on. We look forward to hearing how it goes.
