Mary Lloyd is the Silent Disco DJ, an artist based in Victoria. She has begun organizing discos on the beaches of Smelt Bay this past summer and fall, with the latest silent disco held this past weekend. The enthusiastic DJ hopes to offer a monthly opportunity to gather and dance on Cortes Island.
Silent discos are facilitated by handing out wireless headsets to participants who then all tune into the same DJ set broadcasted to the headsets. The experience offers a “silent” veil to those surrounding the dance in neighborhood communities. Lloyd offers to host events with up to 190 people. She has been offering silent discos in the Victoria area for over two years.
The DJ has all kinds of location ideas—including Mansons Lagoon for Cortes Island—and spoke with CKTZ about the mindful element of silent discos.
“I’d love to do a forest dance…hiking and dance…combine mindfulness. I’m also almost finished my mindfulness meditation teacher training with Jack Cornfield and Tara Brock.”
Mary Lloyd does quite a bit of work with youth in the school systems, offering programs for kindergarten through grade five. She is also certified instructor for ‘Dance as Medicine’.
The Silent Disco DJ says she loves Cortes Island and is happy to put together sets based on any genre requests. She is also collaborating with other local dance initiative organizers, hoping to host regular dance temple events this winter. The events are generally public, all ages, and may happen at any time of day.
The first silent disco this summer was notable for Lloyd.
“That one was fun because it had all ages. There was a baby in a snuggly, and there was toddlers and kids. Now we say all ages and kids are free.”
To find out more about the Silent Disco DJ, listen to the CKTZ News Update below:
This program was funded by a grant from the Community Radio Fund of Canada and the Government of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative.
