After months of planning and a thorough 6 week application process with National Parks I am excited to announce the launch of Xstatic Sunsets. This is a new party concept for sober dance parties so good, you can get high naturally! :)
Working with my talented business partner and long time friend Steve Peacock we have managed to get beautiful Shark Island over the line for our launch party on Saturday, April 6th 2019. For those of you who don’t know, Shark Island is a spectacular natural island in Sydney Harbour with stunning views of the city skyline at sunset.
After 15 years of business ideas (never executed!) and leaving another corporate job 3 months ago as it was not the right fit, I knew it was time. My passion, ambition and heart could only be applied to something I truly believed in and where I could have a positive impact on people and society.
Xstatic Sunsets is a true calling for me aligned to my purpose and passion driven by a bigger mission to create a movement for a more healthy party culture. Over recent years I have explored my passion for organising parties, electronic music, dancing and dressing up. It's a lot of fun and allows me to express myself in ways that makes me feel alive and happy. Creating awesome parties with friends has been very rewarding as brings so much joy and connection.
But across the party scene I have seen the negative impact of drugs and alcohol on people which does not serve them, leading to mental and physical health issues. The culture of getting wasted to have a good time is normal in Australia. Whether it’s getting smashed on Melbourne Cup day or taking a cocktail of drugs to get really high to see a night through.
Our inaugural event is set to show Australia (and the world!) you don’t need drugs or alcohol to have an amazing party.
Visualise this... 800 people dressed up as their favourite decade (or pop idol!) dancing and expressing themselves, as your are taken on 6 hour uplifting musical journey through the ages from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and into the present…. Your favourite dance tunes keep coming, whipping the dance floor into a frenzy…. You enjoy the wonderful mix of people of all ages dancing and moving into the golden glow of the setting sun…. Surrounded by nature with views across the harbour you savour a revitalising drink and enjoy a nourishing organic meal while you make new friends... As the sun sets over the Harbour Bridge with iconic Ibiza house tunes creating the magical moment when the sun disappears and we all cheer in presence and gratitude. You wake up on Sunday morning after a good night’s sleep feeling energised and buzzing with the memories, ready to do what you love and dance into your week.
At the end of the day it’s the people that makes the party. Which is where you come in...
Aiming to attract media attention and capture footage, our launch party is intended to lead by example. So we need you to bring your energy, good vibes, dance moves and dress up to create one kick arse party! You will also be supporting mental health charities as we are giving 10% of proceeds to mental health charities.
This vision has been manifesting ever since I danced for hours every night at the Bali Spirit Festival 6 months ago. The live music and DJ’s were amazing along with a great stage production and people from around the world. I was surprised by how high I got just from dancing! As I have learned it's actually a scientific thing. If you dance hard enough for long enough to great music you get a release of happy chemicals including serotonin, endorphins and dopamine (a bit like when you exercise or can be artificially released with recreational drugs). Add to that when your in joyful connection with others listening to uplifting music, we enjoy the release of Oxytocin. Getting to this place is truly ecstatic, almost like your flying! What’s great is it can be sustained over time without the nasty drop or hangover the next day. I went to bed at 1am each night and woke up at 7am feeling great, ready for another day of yoga, meditation and dance!
I reflected on why I don’t normally have this experience back in Sydney and I realised the problem. Every party or venue I go to serves alcohol (or has the temptation of BYO). I always have a drink or a few out of habit and given most parties start at 10pm I often end up taking something to get me through. But I don’t need anything - in fact I realise it's better sober! My coordination and endurance is way better to enable me to fully get into my dance rhythm and I love coming off a night feeling clear headed not to mention how good I feel the next day.
Like all good things, they are best enjoyed in moderation. There is always a time and a place to enjoy a drink or your substance of choice. Its when it becomes a habit and an addiction that is becomes a problem. But I see it's the accepted culture around drugs and alcohol for getting smashed is the real problem, creating the dependency and the habit. The more we have the more we need to get the same feeling, but there are of course consequences.
Working 5 days a week in the daily grind of the commute of course we need to let our hair down on the weekend. But smashing it on a night out and writing off your Sunday does not give you back the energy you need to thrive in life and work.
Xstatic Sunsets will become a quarterly event where you can look forward to partying hard (sober!), expressing yourself and letting your hair down. As an all ages event you can even bring your kids and dress up together. The vision is for music to bring us back together in a safe environment where anyone feels welcome and comfortable to express themselves as they choose. And after a really fun, uplifting day, dancing and connecting with friends in nature you get to have a good night's sleep to rest and revive.
Join the movement to inspire others to give a sober dance a go! Let’s party on Shark Island and show Australia how its done!
