Built on community, expression, and a little bit of chaos, Summer Dance has long held its place in Sydney’s cultural calendar. First emerging at the National Art School, the party quickly grew into a defining fixture of Sydney summers, a space where music, style, and self-expression collided in daylight.
After a brief hiatus, Summer Dance returned to our new home, Liberty Hall Courts, where it continues to evolve while staying true to its roots. Each season, the courts transform into an open-air playground.
Across the years, Summer Dance has hosted some of the most influential names in dance music, including Four Tet, Eris Drew & Octo Octa, Bicep, Ross From Friends, Club Angel, Maribou State, Folamour, Chaos In The CBD, Jyoty, Salute, SWIM, and Honey Dijon, alongside a new generation of local and international talent.
More than just a party, Summer Dance is a shared ritual, a meeting point for Sydney’s dance community, season after season.
BRIA is a Dharawal/Eora based DJ and the host of Thursday Lunch on FBi Radio. She’s fresh from a debut Boiler Room set and is becoming a regular name in the Sydney dance community. Bria draws from a wide set of influences and communities, emphasizing diversity across her selections and the musicians behind them. BRIA is attracted to a harmonious (and sometimes not) collection of different genres, joyful and energised cuts. You can expect a mixture of big basslines, rhythmic percussion, breaks and catchy samples.
Since the 1980s, Gilles Peterson has been a pivotal figure in the global club scene, renowned for his genre-defying approach to music, with jazz at its core. One of the UK’s most influential DJs, Peterson has spent over 40 years shaping musical culture as a radio presenter, club DJ, producer, and festival curator. His work has influenced generations of DJs and artists worldwide, earning him lasting respect from audiences across the globe. He currently hosts a flagship weekend programme on BBC Radio 6 Music and, in 2016, launched his independent online radio platform, Worldwide FM. Peterson is also the founder of the Worldwide Festival in the South of France and the We Out Here festival in the UK. As a label owner, he remains committed to discovering and championing emerging talent through Brownswood Recordings, consistently introducing new voices to the global stage. In addition to his broadcasting and curatorial work, Peterson published his first book, Lockdown FM: Broadcasting in a Pandemic, further cementing his status as a multifaceted and influential cultural tastemaker.
Kamma & Masalo's back-to-back sets have developed into a fluid, instinctive dialogue since 2014. Their approach reflects Amsterdam’s eclectic club tradition, moving between eras and styles with ease, balancing deep record knowledge with euphoric, high-energy instinct. Alongside their DJ sets, they have helped shape their local scene through projects including listening bar Doka and their Brighter Days platform on Rush Hour, which has become a space for both emerging and established selectors to sit side by side.
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One of deep house music’s true originators, Chandler has been injecting soul into dance floors since the early 1990s. His sound is warm, life-affirming and deeply human. A shot of sunshine through speakers. Music that moves bodies, but more importantly, brings people together. No one unites a club quite like Kerri Chandler. Affectionately known as the Stevie Wonder of house music, Chandler has spent decades crafting timeless records rich in musicality and emotion. His work reaches far beyond the dance floor, drawing from the full spectrum of Black American music and culture, and reminding us that house music, at its core, is about soul, freedom, and shared experience.
You may have caught Reenie on the airwaves hosting “Sunset with Motorik” on FBI Radio and “Crossing The Streams” on 2SER; behind a drum kit as a human 808 in Sydney/Eora band “Good Pash”; or behind the decks at local institutions such as Club 77, Freda’s, and Pleasure Club. Reenie has a talent for blending the eccentric and eclectic into a cosmic journey through sound, with a record collection to match her passion for all things auditory. Reenie is a dedicated contributor to the Sydney music scene, with her deep-seated appreciation of music leaving an imprint on any audience.
A key figure in the resurgence of UKG, bassline and speed garage, Silva Bumpa has emerged from the heart of the UK underground as both a producer and DJ shaping the sound’s modern direction. His productions fuse UK bass grit with the singalong bounce of classic club records, drawing on the spirit of mid-2000s bassline while pushing it forward with contemporary weight and songwriting.
DJing since the early 1990’s, Simon has managed to avoid the stifling “style” classification so many other DJs trap themselves into, keeping himself free to draw on his varied loves of deep, soulful house, techno, funk, jazz, electro, booty, hip hop, and anything else which catches his ear. Simon has supported a list of artists longer than your arm, including Larry Heard, Theo Parrish, The Blessed Madonna, Rolando, Herbert, Claude Young, Maurice Fulton, Grace Jones, Derrick Carter, Moodymann, Moritz von Oswald, Charles Webster, Fred P, and Frankie Knuckles. He currently holds down Monday Sunset on FBI Radio, and is resident/co-promoter of Mad Racket, a Sydney underground party institution running since 1998.
