VURBan Legends

One More Dance

Publication title: Vue Weekly
Page: 33
Publication date: June 28, 2001
Document type: Opinion
Article author: Dave Johnston
Transcribed by: MW

Last Tuesday, city council raised the axe away from the executioner's block and let dance culture survive for at least another six weeks. Considering the strong public response in favour of the Right to Dance Coalition—including a massive dance rally on the steps of City Hall last Sunday that drew close to 3,500 people, despite what the police later estimated—the councillors probably didn't want to walk into a potentially hazardous political situation. After all, there are a lot of ravers who can vote.

Sitting in council chambers that morning, I noticed something about the situation that never occurred to me before. Many people, including prominent members of the media and the Coalition, have speculated that city council wanted this bylaw to pass before the International Track and Field Games, set to begin in August. The draconian amendments imposed by Executive Council back on June 9—which included a 3 a.m. curfew for the parties and all-night clubs and a midnight curfew for anybody under the age of 18—might not have come from the mind of narrow-minded, evil individuals but well-intentioned but uninformed leaders. As they say, ignorance is bliss.

At one point, Mayor Bill Smith looked at a representative of the Planning Department and asked why council was never made aware of the fact that other cities had already applied similar bylaws. I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly, and I'm still unsure. How could this supposedly responsible panel of elected leaders never think to ask about what other cities had done? Surely the commission put together by Executive Council had studied these other bylaws, adapted certain clauses and then presented Bylaw 12610. Did this not come up during the presentations and reports the Planning Department made to Executive Council? Was the mayor just not paying any attention until every newspaper editorial—including several in Vue Weekly—pointed out that Edmonton didn't need to reinvent the wheel in this matter?

Over the next six weeks, the Planning Department has to re-examine the bylaw and prepare an amended version for Executive Council on August 22. They will consider the success cities like Toronto, Montreal and Calgary have had with the enforcement of their bylaws, as well as weigh the consequences of perhaps rezoning an area of the city to act as an entertainment corridor, far from the downtown core. As well, the department will examine making the distinction between one-time dance events and the all-night dance clubs. From there, the bylaw will be passed back to city council in September and voted on. If it rolls onto the books, the bylaw will come into effect just in time for the October civic election.

In the next six weeks, the parties and the all-night clubs have to get their act together. This was the message several council members passed along before voting to have the bylaw temporarily shelved for further study. This means city councillors will be watching how the situation unfolds as club owners and promoters attempt to enforce a policy of goodwill over their clientele. Already, Therapy has grappled with the graffiti and littering situation outside their club, even going so far as to cover up the damage across the alley on All Saints Cathedral and Alberta Place Suite Hotel.

The most crucial point here is what will happen to the language of Bylaw 12610 after these six weeks have passed. There is a belief that the original bylaw, as it was written before the June 9 debacle, will be replaced on August 22 by a dramatically altered document. City council has expressed a desire for a fair set of regulations that address the myriad concerns swirling around dance clubs, yet members of this council—including the mayor—figured that an adult curfew was a reasonable condition. After these six weeks, dance culture in Edmonton may be under an even greater threat; we may be in for something akin to Winnipeg's club scene, where everything shuts down at 2 a.m. Everything.

The Coalition, and everybody who supports it, must labour with greater vigilance to ensure that city council lives up to its promise of finding a fair and reasonable solution. They must become active in educating the media and the politicians about the nuances of dance culture and why it should be allowed to flourish. More importantly, there has to be a few olive branches passed around—the issues of drug use and vandalism affect both the clubs and neighboring businesses, and it seems counterproductive to allow each side to attack one other while the problems run around the periphery.

Over the next six weeks, communication will not be enough. There has to be reasonable compromise—otherwise the axe might come down twice as hard and start an ugly revolution in the underground.


Et cetera

With all the concern surrounding Bylaw 12610, it's been hard to spotlight upcoming events in the column. If I've overlooked something over the past few weeks, I humbly apologize.

First, a shameless self-promotional plug. This Saturday at Lush, DJ Dragon and I will be hosting a special night of Turbo, celebrating the release of the new Sarah McLachlan compilation Remixed. The disc features reworkings of several of the singer's hits, including Tiesto's version of “Silence" and Hybrid's reconstruction of "Fear." It would be best if you showed up early if you want to win anything, including autographed stuff.

However, if McLachlan isn't your bag, then shuffle down to Halo and check out deep house jock Jay Dub as he joins resident Junior Brown behind the decks. One night earlier, New York house DJ Dazy will rock Halo's Friday night as a special guest of Ryan Mason and Amaretto.

Nexustribe's Thursday-night residency at Parliament, Shake, is preparing to become a travelling road show. The local production company is hoping Shake will be able to jump around town occasionally, allowing crowds to see international DJs in a variety of settings. Shake's first move will be to Lush on Thursday, July 5 as they present San Francisco's DJ Dan.

Finally, there's a couple of interesting Monday-night residencies that have cropped up. Local deep house DJs Whisper and Erin Eden have started a new night at the Backroom called Sense, which will also feature a monthly appearance by Ariel and Roel. Down the road at Squires, local DJ Waterboy is starting a bedroom bedlam-style night called Local Motive. Every week, Waterboy will offer new, up-and-coming spinners a chance to play for a real crowd. Anyone interested in participating can drop off a tape at DV8 Records, Feroshus or Foosh, or bring it to Waterboy in person down at Squires.