This story is part of a series that explores New York nightlife.
CJ Milan raced around a yacht just after midnight on Sunday, handing out hundreds of foam glow sticks.
“When the boat started moving, we played soca,” she said with a mischievous grin as she paused for a moment to observe the dance floor. “It excites everyone.”
Miss Milan ran Yacht Fetea monthly reggae, dancehall, soca and afrobeats party of 1,000 people on the Hudson River.
The yacht is just one of the venues she uses to organize her periodicals Reggae Festival dance party she started hosting in New York in 2015.
Dancehall, a party-friendly byproduct of reggae music with faster tempos and hip-hop beats, emerged in Jamaica in the late 1970s.
And New York’s dancehall parties, often hosted by and for the city’s vast Caribbean communities, bring people together on dazzling dance floors where they can moan, dagger, dance and immerse yourself in complete isolation.
Ms. Milan, who estimates she drew more than 170,000 people to Reggae Fest events in New York over the past seven years, has since expanded the organization to Washington, DC, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
But even as she expands her reach, she’s still figuring out how to keep New York’s picky crowds happy.
“New York is a different kind of rise,” she said. “We just have so much music coverage because our city is so diverse.”
She said that at each of her parties, she tries to prepare a DJ team to play whatever music the crowd is responding to most vividly that night.
Marvin Smith, who is known at Reggae Fest as DJ Legend, says he plays anything from reggaeton to dancehall to get people moving.
“When I see hairs sweating, when I see people looking around like, ‘Where are my keys? Who has my phone? ‘” Mr. Smith said. “When we see that, we know the mission is complete.”
And Ms. Milan says they try to put something into the mix for every type of listener.
She said: “Dancehall has many different levels – some are difficult levels, often appealing to the younger generation. “But then you get the older generation that wants to hear Mr. Vegas or Sean Paul.”
She added: “Then you have other people saying, ‘I want that sexy thing’ – they want to hear what the women have to say,” referring to artists like Spice.
However, there are certain shows that appeal to dancehall fans of all genres. When Sean Paul performed at Elsewhere in Bushwick on April 25, the crowd reflected his fan base, both international and intergenerational.
Paul, 49, a calm and eccentric figure who was responsible for bringing dancehall to American radio stations in the early 2000s, says his earliest memory of dancehall parties in Jamaica is from when he was 14 years old.
He would sneak out with his friends to a street party called Frontline, where they would often catch dancehall legends like Tiger and Shabba Ranks and dance under the open night sky.
“That’s one thing I didn’t like about the clubs here at first,” he said. “You cannot see the stars. You can’t feel the moon, there’s no island wind blowing in your face when you’re listening to some real-life bass lines. ”
But when he set out to New York in the late 1990s, he discovered a more “scary” dancehall scene with audiences in every niche.
One of his favorite places in the early 2000s was a two-story warehouse in Brooklyn, where parquet floors moved “at least one foot” as people danced.
“It was the only city I knew at the time where I could hit four clubs in one night,” he said before rummaging through a list of places he would visit.
“Two clubs in Jersey – one is the Jamaican club, and the other is the Guyanese club,” he said. “And then there’s the one in Brooklyn, which is frankly strong hip-hop vibes, and the same goes for Manhattan.”
But many of the clubs that Paul remembers are now long gone. And while smaller spaces playing Caribbean music are still dotted around the city, there are only a handful of parties and performances that regularly gather thousands of people.
Cathy Rodriguez, 25, who was at her Milan yacht party last weekend, says she’s been going to Reggae Fest parties for years.
Usually traveling from the Washington area, where she currently lives, Ms. Rodriguez says she will sometimes plan her trips around parties.
“I would legally just go out of town for the Reggae Festival,” she said. “Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m going to meet my family of course. But I would say, “Yes, I’m going to New York and we’re going to the Reggae Festival.”
Ms. Rodriguez says that one of the main attractions of the event is the opportunity to listen to her favorite music.
“Dancehall will always be my first child,” she said. “Growing up in New York City, especially in the Bronx, discos have always been an important part of my life. Like my mom listens to dancehall on Sunday mornings while she’s cleaning. ”
And even beyond her favorite songs, what makes Ms. Rodriguez appear over and over again is the vibrant dance floor.
“In the Caribbean we say ‘stush’ a lot, and stush basically means standing still,” she said. but people are just standing there, smoking – you know, they’re not really enjoying the music.”
“CJ’s vision when it comes to Reggae Fest is: ‘I want people to come, I want people to show up, but I want people to show up. leap,” she continued. “That’s why I keep going to her events, because I guarantee I’ll be jumping all night.”
