This year, the 2017 edition of Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) will feature a strong focus on the exploding underground dance scene of China – one of the world’s most promising (and rising) markets. With a full programme – Mai Music Presents: Bridging The Wall – Unveiling China’s Dance Scene – the leading Chinese dance organization will present itself across disciplines for an in-depth look at the current and future climate of the market. Members from the Chinese and Dutch dance scene come together to give fans an intimate look into how the scene has developed in China over the last decade.
Electronic music has never been an easy topic to address in China with information hard to come by leaving many talented Chinese artists virtually unknown to the West. The main reason for this is the great Chinese Firewall – Facebook, Spotify, Twitter, Youtube, Soundcloud, Instagram and many other vital Western channels are blocked. Chinese artists on their part are rather focusing on local fan interaction via the likes of WeChat, Youku, Weibo or NetEase. Due to the firewall and the government’s close eye, analyzing dance music is also a daunting task; think last minute cancellations, artists getting rejected to enter the country because of sensitive wording in their lyrics, to name a few…
On the opening night of ADE (Wednesday, October 18th) China’s underground main dance event INTRO Festival hosts a special club night in the brand new Chin Chin Club with all the Chinese techno pioneers, as well as DJ Sneak, Karotte, Mike Ravelli and Fewture & Freddie Glitch. Then, on Friday and Saturday LAB 111 will host a series of business and cultural panels that unveil all the secrets of China’s rapidly growing dance scene. The same venue will host the premiere of Break The Wall a documentary about the rise of electronic dance through the eyes of leading dance veteran Yang Bing.
Copyrights, Party & A Movie
In their company presentation dance organization, Mai Music presents copyright protection in China as a ‘grey area’. While this is a true case, it is also one of the company’s primary objectives to stop this. In 2015 they bought the license for the entire catalog of Italian based dance label Saifam, which marked the starting point of their crusade for a better legal copyright framework. This modern-day example on how to keep track of the use of music, and thus collecting the copyright, is presented by Christiaan Janssen of BUMA, the copyright organization of the Netherlands and will feature Chris Groenewegen, head op copyright at Cloud9, with more to be announced. On the same day and the same location, Eric Keijer of Sensation, and Niels Voorbach of The Ark Cruise will further discuss on topics centered on the globalization of dance concepts.
Behind The Wall – The Story Of Dance In China
The film tells the story of Yang Bing, one of China’s foremost underground dance artists. From the initial conception of the Chinese dance scene until its recent maturation, Bing has played a seminal role in all of it. Fast forward to 2017 and the tight-knit group remains active, pushing their scene to the next level.
The goal here is to further reinforce the connection between the two markets, and to professionalize the discussion surrounding the topic, creating a platform able to contribute to more Chinese electronic music artists attain the status they deserve all the while opening the world’s biggest music market for Western DJs and Producers.
