Dancing Through the Darkness: The Song & Dance's Emo Night Brooklyn — 20 Watts Magazine | Premier Music Publication of SU

 Joshua “Jbat” Batista, DJ for Emo Night Brooklyn, provided a high-energy show with classic emo songs that set the dance floor alight.

Words By: Vivian Baltzer / Photography by Hollis Mehling and Jamie Christensen / Graphic by Griffin Turner

The moment I walked through the main door at The Song & Dance, I heard the recognizable lyrics of “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” by My Chemical Romance blasting. I giddily ran down the stairs once my ticket was scanned and slammed through the door to enter a dark room complete with booming music and flashing lights. I immediately bolted towards the center of the floor and started dancing to “My Friends Over You” by New Found Glory. 

Spending time with this genre in middle school trained me well for the night, allowing me to know almost every song that played. On the other hand, the people I went with weren’t as familiar with the music, but their lack of experience didn’t take away from the amount of fun we had. The best part about shows like Emo Night Brooklyn is that knowing the songs doesn’t matter –  everyone there just wants to enjoy themselves and appreciate the music. 

Everyone in attendance was full of energy and bouncing around the venue. The look of realization on the crowd’s faces as they realized which song was playing was a ceaselessly amusing spectacle. The groups of friends who went together would look at each other and scream with excitement before dancing, singing, and moshing to every emo hit. 

During the halfway point of the show, DJ JBat shared personal experiences with the crowd, one of which was being dumped after a series of unfortunate events. The crowd went on to support him by chanting “Fuck that bitch!” in solidarity with the DJ.