Clubbers: Plenty of nightlife attractions on offer across Cork this weekend

Bringing a different emphasis to dance music is a night called Mad Deep, which takes place this Sunday 23rd at Dali. After launching on May 17, this is the second edition of this quarterly night. While it sees two of Cork’s more veteran DJs on the decks, Colm K and Jon Barry, Mad Deep’s focus is elsewhere. While the event has the novel element of seeing the DJs accompanied on vocals by singer and MC Ophelia McCabe, its roots are very much in dancing.

Organised by Helena Palmer, a dance and movement teacher whose interests are in freestyle and improvisation, the evening begins with a dance. A dance cypher, to be exact. In hip-hop, a cypher is more understood as a chain of rapping amongst a group of emcees, where every member in turn picks up the verbal baton and the circuit continues. Similarly, a dance cypher begins with someone freestyling some moves, and each next participant is invited to respond to the previous dancer’s moves. I guess we can detect the organiser’s interest in alternative practices in the language used around this.

“The Cypher or the Circle is as old as time” the notes around the event tell us. “It’s a portal created by the energy of the music and the bodies moving in the space. it’s a realm that summons you in to share what’s inside! Share it, the language, your language, the conversation, the creative force, the madness and intelligence of non-verbal communication.”

Outside of these quarterly events at Dali, Mad Deep has been taking advantage of the sunny evenings by hosting weekly outdoor open session events on Monday evenings from 7pm–9pm at locations around town such as Nano Nagle’s or Bishop Lucy Park. These were occasions to make connections and share dance moves.

And this Sunday should see people bust out their new moves. Typically, electro or some variation of is the musical genre soundtracking events like this, but house and club music is the order of the day. Some may know Ophelia as a hip-hop MC, but she is also the possessor of some soulful vocals. She’ll be doing her thing to the grooves laid down by two of Cork’s most knowledgeable DJs as they go back-to-back. This should result in a night where everyone, from the performers to the audience, has to be on their game.

“It’s not about perfection,” they advise, “it’s about you as you are so let’s traverse and immerse into house music for the night and let the groove take us where we need to go!”

If you’re heading to Electric Picnic the following weekend with a particular interest in the more alternative stages, this might be the very thing to set you up for a weekend of adventure.

Mad Deep takes place at Dali, above NUDES on Lavitt Quay, on Sunday, August 23, from 7pm-11:30pm. €10.

Other events to consider this weekend are both taking place on Saturday. At the Savoy, pioneering house DJ and local legend Shane Johnson of Fish Go Deep plays a four-hour set running from 8.30pm-12.30am. Tickets on Eventbrite at €22.43. At Dali, MACHINA return to their video game themed nights from 9pm to close. €10.