Moxie
Women can’t DJ. Non-western music is rubbish. Vegan food is boring. You can’t take your nan clubbing. I love a bit of myth-busting, so I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday night’s MOXIE Dance Party at the Norwich Arts Centre. Advertised as an “inter-generational dance party for women”, the night was organised by Grace Jackson from the Arts Centre itself.
Clearly lots of thought had been put into making the event not-just-your-average-club-night. Balloons and confetti littered the main room, reasonably-priced cocktails were on offer, local vegan Deerly Beloved Bakery had a stall and four female DJ’s were booked.
Local DJ’s Amy Nomvula, Rosie Arnold and Pam Steward played, alongside South London-based DJ/Producer Mina. Each spun carefully-curated playlists, eschewing stale Drake or Oasis-packed mixes. Along with classics such as Stevie Wonder and Beyonce, partiers went wild for songs they’d never heard of, and would probably never hear again. Mina’s set was particularly Shazam-worthy; tunes varied from French hip hop to Afrobeat to dancehall.
The main room of the NAC was far filled to capacity, but this again separated it from packed-out club nights. There was plenty of room for all to dance freely, from mother-daughter duos to all out girl squads. MOXIE’s laidback, women-centric atmosphere also meant that there was a reduced likelihood of harassment, an all too common feature of standard nights out.
The event finished at 1am, meaning early nights could be had, or if you’d well and truly caught the dancing bug, you could move on to somewhere else. Regardless, I’d put bets on MOXIE being the highlight of everybody’s nights. A Norwich club night promoting the empowerment of all women? They don’t come around often, though let’s hope MOXIE does.
