A few months ago I wrote about how it's hard to get started playing for electronic ("techno") contra. If all the events are bigs special things and organizers only want groups who can carry a the whole evening, how do you get to where you can do that?

Julie Vallimont (Double Apex, Delta Wave, Cosmic Echo, Firecloud, Buddy System) pioneered this livetronica contra style, and resolved this question by putting in an absolutely absurd amount of effort before playing her first Double Apex gig. But, despite there being a lot of people who would enjoy dancing to this kind of music more often, we can't just will talented and dedicated musicians into existence. There need to be opportunities for people to try it out: is this something I enjoy doing? How does the crowd react to my various ideas? What works well in this context?

Which is why I'm excited that for the next Spark in the Dark (August 16th, put it in your calendar!) BIDA's going to be offering guest spots. Instead of needing to prepare a whole evening worth of material, people who want to try this out only need a couple sets. If this sounds like it might be for you, have a look through the details and write to musician-booking@bidadance.org.