Elon Senior Aly Hignight has a dance-off during Knife Party’s set at Ultra Music Festival 2012 in Miami, Florida.
While commercialized, mainstream music continues to flood popular radio, some Elon University students have decided to break away from conventional music and have ultimately formed an ‘underground’ rave culture. These students are all extremely passionate about electronic dance music (EDM) and view the music and the culture that surrounds it as a platform for expressing themselves in an environment free from judgment. This generation of ravers truly believes that EDM is a genre unlike any other because the fans make unique connections with others who share a mutual love for the music, continually finding themselves enlightened and inspired, show after show.
Several Elon students who consider themselves a part of the EDM movement view raves as rituals of togetherness where everyone collectively surrenders themselves to the music. Sophomore Sandra Grigis has been attending EDM shows throughout her entire college career and feels a strong connection to the EDM community. “You see people doing what they want to do – everyone is smiling at each other – and no one feels judged,” she says. “You can just lose it without feeling like you’re crazy. People come up to you and tell you you’re beautiful. You don’t get that anywhere else. It’s like a community and there’s just vibes of love everywhere. It’s like your soul is dancing.”
Elon junior Tyler Marenyi has been producing his own electronic beats for a few years and has watched the EDM movement explode from its beginnings. He acknowledges that there are several aspects of the rave generation that set it apart from other genres of music. “The whole EDM community is what makes it different,” he says.
Elon junior Tyler Marenyi produces his own electronic music and DJs local events on and off campus. He will be opening for Styles & Complete at Taphouse on May 8.
“It’s completely different from any other genre of music. Every time you go to a show there’s always just awesome people there. You feel like you can trust people. Everyone is open to new things and they’re all so friendly. As someone who makes music, there’s so many different production forms. Everyone is down to share their music and do shows together. It’s a lot less cutthroat than the industry surrounding bigger music labels. EDM is about making good music, it’s not about making money.”
Elon junior Edge Fernandez discovered EDM the summer before college after attending a warehouse rave in Brooklyn, which gave him a new perspective on the culture behind this genre of music. “Everyone was just letting go and expressing themselves, he says. “It was the first time I really learned to do that. And no one cares because you look around and everyone else is doing the same thing.” As far as what this underground explosion of music means for our generation, Fernandez shares his thoughts. “I’m excited for it,” he says. I think it speaks a lot about how our values are changing. We kind of just want to do what we want to do and not live stereotypical lives. It’s going to define us.”
Below is a video from Ultra Music Festival 2012, one of the biggest EDM festivals in the world, which grew to 200,000 attendees this year. Some Elon students who attended include Aly Hignight, Sam Wright, Will Jones, Rachel Vargyai, Margaux Loree, Ning Yuan and Sandra Grigis.
rachel vargyai 