T-Swift dance parties drew massive audiences in their first year, with thousands attending events across the country.Victoria Morton/Handout
Imagine this: hundreds of Canadians, putting aside their usual hesitations, belting out the lyrics to Taylor Swift songs and dancing like no one was filming them for Instagram.
This is not a concert. It’s a celebration – one of many – that has had a major impact on club scenes as a safer and more inclusive alternative across the country, while raising money for charity. Call it a dance party. Call it a revolution. It’s a love story, and Canada says yes.
For the three co-founders of T-Swift Dance Parties, the pop-country star’s songs are reason enough to sing and dance.
Of all his contemporaries, Swift’s influence is undeniable. Look no further than the Swifties, a devoted Gen Z and Millennial fan base so large that even Ticketmaster collapsed under the pressure of 14 million people trying to buy seats.
“His music came out exactly when I needed it at every stage of life, so I find that no matter how I’m feeling, there’s an incredibly written song that really captures my life experience,” said Miri Makin, co-founder of T-Swift Dance Parties, noting her closeness in age to Swift.
“I think she’s literally the best songwriter of our generation that we’ve seen growing up,” added Avish Sood, another co-founder.
The dance parties drew massive audiences, welcoming more than 24,000 people at 32 events in eight provinces in its first year of operation. Together, the events raised nearly $80,000 for various charities, including Planned Parenthood, the Canadian Cancer Society, CAMH, Daily Bread Food Bank Toronto, UNICEF Ukraine relief efforts and the Society Canadian Cystic Fibrosis.
Even Swift herself acknowledged the events, commenting “I’m speechless” on one of the group’s TikTok posts, led by third co-founder Victoria Morton.
But what came first? Eternal love for Swift, or charity?
According to Sood, it all happened after he saw a viral video of a woman singing and dancing her heart out on Swift’s Mr. Perfectly in a bar in Australia. It was “very different from anything we’ve seen in North America,” he said, and after a dark year of lockdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, a dance party seemed like the best way to go. to get rid of it.
In November 2021, the co-founders set out to throw a small Taylor Swift-themed party for 250 people at a basement bar on King Street in Toronto. As Christmas approached, the trio decided to donate profits to the Daily Bread Food Bank. Within 30 seconds, the 250 tickets they were selling on Eventbrite were gone. They launched two other events in Toronto in the spring, which also sold out in less than a minute.
Since then, they’ve launched events across Canada, working to bring dance parties to parts of the country that big-name artists tend to shy away from, like Fredericton, Moncton and Saskatoon. When Swift launched her latest project, Midnightsthey held a sold-out event for 3,500 people at Rebel Nightclub in Toronto – one of the biggest album release celebrations in North America.
For Makin, the idea was a no-brainer. Dancing to Swift for six hours in a bar was a dream come true, she said: “Turns out a lot of other people wanted the same thing.”
While the music plays an indisputable role at the dance parties, fans of the events say they come back for the vibe, which some have described as the safest they’ve ever felt at a nightclub.
“I wish every party was like this,” said Bayley Levy, 24, who attended two parties. Ms Levy, who quit drinking several years ago, said it was rare for her to go out with her friends to party, because of the noise, darkness and ‘filth’ of the scene Toronto nightclubs. The T-Swift Dance Parties, she said, were a game-changer.
Ms Levy said she was wearing jeans and trainers and no one had made inappropriate passes to her. Unlike most nightclubs, where she had to dress and act a certain way, “there was no expectation,” she said. “You were going to sing songs you love and hang out with your friends.”
Anastasia Kountouris, 23, and Helen Patriarch, 22, attended five of the events together, often dressing up with their friends to match the theme of a different Swift album each time. What first struck them both when they went to their first event together was the mix of men and women happily dancing and singing along with Taylor Swift “like no one was watching.” who they think helped set the tone for the event, and how caring for the crowd was.
“I feel like everyone cares about each other’s safety. Like if at some point someone lost something, there would be 1,000 phones with flashlights looking for it on the floor said Kountouris.
She added that the couple had bought tickets together for two more dance parties in Halifax and Toronto next month, and that mini-events at dance parties, such as costume contests, had helped to reinforce the feeling of togetherness. belonging to the community, thus facilitating encounter.
“I think Taylor definitely appeals to a certain type of audience, and they’re just nice, genuine people, and you know you’re surrounded by those type of people at these events,” Patriarch said.
For the co-founders of the event, the experience was better than their wildest dreams. But as Taylor Swift says, nothing lasts forever.
“It amazes me every day,” Makin said of the event’s growing success. “I could never have imagined this.”
The continuation of the T-Swift Dance Parties remains uncertain. Makin, Morton and Sood each have full-time jobs and plan dance parties in their spare time. When asked if they were going to expand internationally, Makin laughed, “Don’t give Avish a clue.”
