The Dance

The Dance emerged from the transformative downtown New York milieu spanning the late 1970s and early 1980s, forging a concise yet charged fusion of funk, punk, minimalism, and dub experimentation. Much like other boundary-crossing contemporaries, the group fused ostensibly mismatched idioms into fresh territory and remained intensely productive across a short span. Several members also backed the youthful post-punk talent Chandra, while the band itself issued multiple singles alongside two LPs: In Lust in 1981 and Soul Force in 1982.

Vocalist Eugenie Diserio and guitarist Steve Alexander launched the project in late 1979 once their prior group Model Citizens dissolved. Its initial incarnation centered on Alexander’s 12-string guitar alongside Diserio’s distinctive electric organ textures and incisive lyrics. The earliest sessions incorporated drummer Louis Watterson, percussionist Jim Martin, and drummer Fred Maher. Their 12" EP Dance for Your Dinner appeared in 1980 and contained “Do Dada,” a track that later gained cult status as a prime specimen of dance-oriented punk from the period. In May 1980, Diserio, Alexander, and Maher entered the studio with 12-year-old Chandra Oppenheim to cut her debut EP Chandra; those recordings likewise attained landmark status as artifacts of a singularly inventive moment in American independent music.

Between Dance for Your Dinner and the first full-length album In Lust, the lineup changed. Cut in Surrey, England, In Lust omitted Martin, introduced drummer Robey Newsom, and added second guitarist Tomas Doncker. The record leaned toward a more radio-friendly funk approach and found receptive crowds across Europe. Back in New York, the band self-produced its follow-up, Soul Force, which earned praise from listeners and reviewers yet received scant label backing and soon faded from view. A third album was begun in 1983, but further label complications left the effort unfinished, after which the Dance disbanded without fanfare.

In 2022, Modern Harmonic, an imprint of Sundazed, restored the group’s entire discography to circulation, repressing both studio albums and adding previously unheard material. Alongside those reissues, the label assembled the new compilation Do Dada, gathering assorted 12" cuts and previously unavailable tracks.