Iridescent scales and a mirrored disco ball freckled a crowd of mermaids, pirates and witches. Techno music and synth-pop guided the movements of platform shoes and roller skates.
Dark dance parties are themed monthly events held at downtown Gainesville’s Midnight Underground bar. The events aim to bring together diverse communities, from goths to cosplayers to the EDM crowd, and encourage self-expression and connection through dancing, costumes and interactive experiences.
The Aug. 25 dark dance party theme was “Dark Aquatic,” bringing together vendors, a costume contest and a live art show. A portion of the proceeds went to Florida Springs Council, a nonprofit organization focused on springs conservation, in a nod to the aquatic theme.
Kristin Powers, a 43-year-old Gainesville resident and organizer of the dark dance parties, uses “dark” as a theme to embrace the parts of the human experience that are often overlooked. It’s not meant to be horror-themed or overtly morbid, they said.
“Each event is a different theme because we’re trying to bring different people together,” Powers said. “This is an opportunity to get to know the people that you’re dancing next to.”
Studded with watercolor tattoos and equally multicolored hair, Powers said the events are intended to create a safe and inclusive space for “outsiders,” or people who may not feel like they fit in elsewhere. Creating a place for outsiders started from Powers’ connection to the Gainesville goth community, they said.
“There are people in our community that explicitly said ‘This is the first time I felt like I could be myself,’” they said. “Those are the people that I’m getting out to.”
Shyne Loper, a 29-year-old Gainesville resident, is the general manager of Midnight Underground. She said the dark dance parties bring more people to the Midnight Underground, where much of their marketing relies on online posting and word-of-mouth.
Loper describes Midnight Underground as the “kitchen junk drawer” of local event spaces, where “no two events are the same,” she said.
“Dark Future,” themed around Neo-Tokyo cyberpunk-apocalypse, was the first party hosted at Midnight Underground and the “best financial night Midnight Underground ever had,” Loper said.
The second event, held in late July and named “Dark Circus,” centered around playful clowns and oddity acts. Midnight Underground hit capacity three separate times in a single night, Loper said.
“Every event they’ve done so far has been wildly successful,” Loper said. “We now have bands reaching out to us that didn’t know we were equipped to host live bands.”
King Bada, a 36-year-old Gainesville resident, performed a “liquid light show” during the Dark Aquatic dance party. Using oils, paints and dyes, Bada used 1990s tech equipment to create a “live lava lamp” without a computer to digitize effects.
With fingertips spattered in different colors, Bada took light boards and different panes of glass to “spin” colors together, along with a video camera to project the scene on the wall of the bar.
Vendors like Bada enhance the experience of the dark dance parties, he said.
“We get to show people other art that’s not just music,” he said. “I like meeting other vendors and seeing other different things that people are doing and experimenting with.”
Jason Catron, a 44-year-old Starke resident, is the owner of Milestone Mercantile, a small laser engraving business working mainly with wood. His work uses visual puns, including a two-dimensional wooden airplane with the word “f*ck” on it, marketed as a “flying f*ck.” As an “old-school goth,” parties in darker scenes are something that feels like home to him, he said.
“It’s always great because you get a really nice mix of people,” he said. “You get to watch how different people react to your products on your table.”
Quinn Martin, a 35-year-old Gainesville resident and software engineer, most enjoyed how each dark dance party was more than just a showcase of music, he said.
“There’s always interactive activities to do, [such as] photo booths,” he said. “There’s decorations and themes and it’s conceptual.”
Martin said the dark dance parties have joined local bars The Wooly and The Atlantic to make a “trifecta” of locations where members of the goth community can thrive.
“It’s really crazy that two years ago there were zero goth nights, and now there are three at least,” he said. “This night is really welcoming. It’s not just for goths.”
Jill Dumas, a 47-year-old Gainesville resident, realtor and professional clown, attended the Dark Aquatic dance party. She previously performed as a clown at the Dark Circus event and won the “silliest” costume award at the Dark Aquatic event.
Dressed in an array of bright colors and rolling around in skates complete with knee-high socks, Dumas felt the event was a “safe space and a positive environment,” she said.
“As a member of the queer community myself, I’ve found over the years … a lot of events have really become inclusive,” she said. “I’m a believer that every minute of your life, you have an opportunity to choose to be happy and enjoy it.”
Jennifer Massimin, a 34-year-old Gainesville resident, won the “best overall” costume award for her interpretation of a scary anglerfish.
Using liquid latex and thin plastic, she created the mouthpiece to mimic an anglerfish's skinny, sharp teeth. She included a small reading light with a lace overlay attached to her head to represent the fish’s unique luminescent fin ray.
Massimin comes to the events to “have fun and be herself,” she said.
“You don’t have to look a certain way here and party, we can all dance together,” she said. “We’re not scary, even though we’re goth.”
Contact Sara-James Ranta at sranta@alligator.org. Follow her on X @sarajamesranta.
Sara-James Ranta is a third-year journalism major, minoring in sociology of social justice and policy. Previously, she served as a general assignment reporter for The Alligator's university desk.
