Trance Music and Club Space to Reunite on the Terrace

Remember trance? In Miami, the 128-plus-bpm-flavored dance genre thrived in the '90s and early 2000s with George Acosta at Shadow Lounge. Then Tiësto betrayed it, the big-room invasion happened, and trance faded.

But in 2016, South Florida's trance revolution began thanks to promoters like Apex Presents, who booked acts like Ferry Corsten and Aly & Fila. Promoters Denial Events continue to push trance's rebirth this week with Trance on the Terrace on Thursday, January 25. Hoping to flex their trance muscles are Cosmic Gate, Andrew Rayel, Emma Hewitt, Christina Novelli, Nifra, and Grube and Hovsepian. Typically a house and techno den, the Space Terrace will transform to multisensory trance utopia and dance music’s spiritual genre shall bless 11th Street, if just for a night.

Andrew Rayel, one of the DJs who'll be doing the blessing, is part raver, part composer. From the Republic of Moldova, he introduced his own label last September, inHarmony Music. Closed eyes, arms reaching for the sky, and cheesy-ass hand hearts will make rare cameos at Space when he drops his latest single, “Soul on the Run.”

Rayel follows Cosmic Gate at Trance on the Terrace, which is fitting because the two have plenty in common. Emma Hewitt will take the mike and offer soulful vocals during both of their performances. And like Cosmic Gate, Rayel also released an album, Moments, in 2017.
“With my first album [Find Your Harmony], I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. My second album was planned; it took a lot of time,” Rayel says.

All the trance feels will be complemented by a special LED DJ booth, added lasers, and more bright lights. Denial Events is a Miami Beach-based company owned and operated by Christian Parth and Rafi Leibowitz. Parth, a semi-retired wealth adviser, and Leibowitz, former Groove Cruise marketing director, have several parties on the 2018 slate. Last week, Denial Events hosted a party with Roger Sanchez, Cocodrills, and Harry Romero at SQL. And up next is a private island party in conjunction with Groove Cruise on January 27 and Above & Beyond and Seven Lions at the RC Cola Plant on March 22 during Miami Music Week.

“Christian and I love trance music, so this is an important event for us. [Denial] specializes in excessive events. We want people to escape the norm and leave realism,” Leibowitz says. “Initially, Denial Events were for the ultra-elite. In time, we learned these weren’t the people we wanted to share events with. Denial Events are for the mass market. Our parties are for everyone.”

In 2016, trance legend Mark Sherry told New Times, “The EDM bubble is bursting now, and the followers of that genre are looking for something else.”

Trance on the Terrace is the “something else.”

Trance on the Terrace. With Cosmic Gate, Andrew Rayel, Emma Hewitt, and others. 10 p.m. Thursday, January 25, at Club Space, 34 NE 11th St., Miami; 305-456-5613; clubspace.com. Tickets cost $20 via ticketfly.com.