later, there were 30 people mingling at bars and four people on the dance floor, only
one of whom was dancing. By midnight there were 35 people on the dance floor
and approximately another 120 in the room. At this point, Patrick played what I
identify as the first record of the evening exhibiting liminal characteristics: the
combination of the filter and the loop.^6 Both the filter and the loop, when heard
individually or in tandem, like liminality in general, are not meant to produce
immediate satisfaction (Broadhurst 1999). Rather, they are tension-, excitement-
and expectation-inducing effects intended to draw participants more fully into
dance. Building from an ascending pattern, this particular filtered loop occupied 32
bars of the record in question. Its effect on the crowd was mixed: a number of the
dancers recognized the effect as one which would likely precede a return to the
thumping 4/4 pattern of the kick drum and thus began throwing their hands in the
air energetically; others were unsure of the potential outcome and slowed their
dancing in order to survey other participants, while approximately 10 people
previously standing by the western bar abandoned their drinks for the dance floor.
In each case, use of the filtered loop not only produced expectation and excitement
but afforded participants an opportunity quickly to reflect on the state of the dance
floor and their position vis-à-vis dance. With the dance floor half empty, by playing
a record with a filtered loop Patrick addressed and transmitted to the crowd the
possibilities of what might be if participants would more fully attend the dance
space.
The third liminal technique I wish to address is EQing.^7 Throughout the course
of his (and virtually every underground dance music DJ’s set) Patrick was constantly
manipulating the bass, mid and treble frequencies of the records, either as a means of
mixing from record to record (i.e. dropping the bass out of the playing record to
replace it with the bass of the next) or as an effect during the course of a single
record. In cases where EQing is used during the body of a single record it is done to
affect the sense of time transmitted through music. From the familiar 4/4 pulse of
the kick drum, which in house, tech-house and techno makes up much of the
performance’s rhythmic narrative, Patrick temporarily suspended the dancers by
dropping the bass out of the mix. Throughout the course of my field research I have
observed two very distinct patterns in the way dancers react to this effect. The first
involves club-culture neophytes; from the very beginning of the set there were a
group of four college-age women dancing together while facing each other in a
circle. In Toronto, dancing together in a circle usually indicates novice status.^8
When Patrick dropped the bass out of this first record, as if losing their footing or
their timing all four women paused, looked at each other in slight confusion,
stopped dancing completely and faced the DJ booth in unison as if looking for
further instruction. The second pattern observed involves club-culture initiands;
approximately one metre to the left of the group of four was a single woman of a
similar age dancing alone. While her Snug^9 clothes indicated a certain insider status,
her reaction to the EQing demonstrated a practised engagement with liminality.
Although there was a slight pause in her dancing as Patrick dropped the bass out of
the mix, this woman maintained the flow of her movement and, likely counting the
174 MORGAN GERARD