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Over the past 7 years World Dance has grown into one
of the UK's premier party organisations. Today they
regularly hold parties for over 10,000 people and
are widely regarded as pioneers of the drum & bass
scene. The two leading lights behind the team are
Chris Leonard and Jay. Both old school ravers
themselves, they know exactly what a party needs to
go off with a bang....!
What inspired you to start World Dance?
Well we both went out raving during 89' and just
love the atmosphere and excitement of it all. During
the 80's bigger and the better was the general ethos
and we decided that we wanted to put on the biggest
and best rave. We wanted the best DJs, best bands,
best production, everything. In short, the top
event.
When, where and how big was the first party?
19th August 1989 East Grinstead. Junction 6 M25,
then down a few B roads and into a fuckin great
field. We had between 8 & 9000 people there.
Who was DJing and have you stuck with any of them
since?
We didn't even put the DJ's on the first flyer so we
can't be sure on all of them, but we can remember
KLF, Mickey Finn, Paul Anderson, Fabio, Carl Cox,
Evil Eddie Richards were all definitely there. We've
stuck with Mickey Finn ever since, he's played every
event.
Where did you go from there?
Jay: I took a break for a couple of years and
concentrated on a couple of other projects within
the industry. Learnt a bit more, lost a lot more
money, then I met Chis through my artwork guy, Pez.
Pez also did stuff for Chris, who'd been busy
organising the first warehouse parties in Australia.
we'd learnt the ropes, knew a few tricks of the
trade and decided that is was time to start applying
for licenses.
When did you turn legal and why?
In 1992 we found the Lydd Airport venue and this was
the first time we applied for a license. However,
the first World Dance we do not consider to be
illegal, it was simply unlicensed. But it didn't
need to be as everyone attending was a member. How
did you get to be a member? Fill in your name and
address on the back of the ticket.
How do you get on with the police and local
authorities?
We've always maintained a good working relationship
with the police and local authorities. When we first
start planning an event we (the emergency services,
the local council and us) all sit round a table and
discuss things openly. We kick any problems around
until we get them solved and then get on and produce
the show.
How many parties have you put on?
There's been 19 major World Dance events.
Which one was your personal favourite and why?
London Arena 1995 New Years Eve. Now that the
company is a level where major venues accept us a s
good business it's nice to be taken in at London
Arena and then sell it out. There were no tickets
available on the night, anyone who wanted to come
had made the effort to go out and get a ticket and
they tend to be the best customers-the people who
like to make a day of it. But the year before when
we did our first Wembley event was good too. After
the event the head of licensing down there told me
that his department never thought that the event
would get off the ground as it hadn't been
advertised in any of the usual ways events at
Wembley were advertised. He said that anyone who
can't sing and dance but can still get 10,000 people
to Wembley, my department has to take it's hat off
to. That was a nice touch coming from probably the
most experienced licensing team in the UK, if not in
Europe.
What was your biggest ever event?
Capacity wise London Arena 1995 New Years Eve again.
It was licensed for 11,500 people and it sold out.
There was a problem with the tickets getting printed
and we sold 11,500 tickets in 3 weeks, which is not
bad by most peoples standards.
When did you start using the Lydd Airport venue?
We first used Lydd in August 92.
What other venues have you used?
Sanctuary Music Arena, Milton Keynes (but that's a
bit small now as it's only 3000 capacity). London
Arena, Wembley Arena, Royal Victoria Docks.
What are the prominent factors in deciding whether a
venue is suitable or not?
Primarily it must be safe from the licensing point
of view e.g. good road access, plenty of parking, no
neighbours, minimal disturbance on the local
community. From our point of view it's just gotta
have good character and seem like the kind of place
that we can imagine a good party going off in.
How would you say World Dance events have changed
over the years?
We've grown and hot bigger and better. Our
production had improved and we offer an altogether
safe environment for people to party in. We put more
money per ticket into the production budget than any
of our competitors and I think that is what makes
our events special and still feel underground. We
believe that this comes from an in depth knowledge
gained by having gone to these things since the
early days. We may no be out there as much as we
once were but we still remember what we enjoyed and
what it's like going to your first event. You walk
into a hall and there's 5 or 10,000 people there and
it's like fuck me! No club will ever, ever be able
to replicate that when it's only got a capacity of
1000 people.
Your music policy had obviously changed over the
years. Now you always have at least two arenas and
various styles of music. Why is this?
We've tried to now introduce more and more arenas to
cover the ever increasing fragmentation of dance
music. We now try and cater for the multitudes of
taste within the scene, be it drum n' bass, house,
trance, trip hop, whatever. World Dance is not
really about a music policy, it's about an
atmosphere policy.
How long does it take to plan each event?
Anything between 3-6 months depending on the scale
of the event and whether we've used the venue
before. If it's a new site there's the initial site
suitability studies, all the site visits,
negotiations about price n' all that.
How many of you are involved in a typical
production?
There are 6 full time office staff, with the number
of seasonal staff increasing all the time up to the
day of the event until it gets up to, including
security, about 250 on gig day.
What are your plans for the future, got anything
special lined up?
We've got a couple of things up our sleeve for next
summer. Our customers have come to expect a few
surprises from us and we will be looking to push the
barriers a bit further next year. So keep your eyes
and ears open an, as they say, watch this space.
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