"Dancing in the Dark" Celebrates 20 Influential Years of Nocturnal Wonderland

Article by: Laura Mason|@masonlazarus

Thu August 27, 2015 | 00:00 AM


As we all know, the juggernaut known as Insomniac has helped propel EDM as a musical genre, festival style, and lifestyle to a multi-billion-dollar, global industry. Founded by Pasquale Rotella, the events company has produced more than 250 over-the-top festivals – its largest being Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas, which sees more than 400,000 attendees over three days – and helped create new and more intricate, high-budget and spectacular production standards for EDM fests everywhere. Insomniac's deep cultural and musical impact even extends to the rise of DJs as mainstream pop forces to be reckoned with, as well as fashion.

Now, you may have thought EDC is Insomniac's longest-running festival – but you'd be wrong. That distinction goes to none other than Nocturnal Wonderland , which celebrates its 20th anniversary from September 4-6 in San Bernardino, CA. This means it's the perfect time to view Insomniac's freshly unveiled documentary honoring the fest's pioneering role in the EDM scene.

Entitled Dancing in the Dark: 20 Years of Nocturnal Wonderland , the 20-minute feature showcases pivotal artists, producers and lovers of the dance music community who have witnessed the evolution and growth of Nocturnal over the past two decades. You'll see some of the most iconic names in dance music – Moby, 12th Planet, DJ Tatiana, Jason Bentley, Kennedy Jones, Bunny from Rabbit in the Moon, and many others –  talk about how all aspects of the scene (from fashion and music to technical) have drastically changed and influenced where electronic music is now.

To fully capture Nocturnal's vibe, Dancing in the Dark was shot exclusively at night (duh), between the hours of 9 pm and 2 am. It documentary took a month to produce and includes extensive archival footage from some of the first Nocturnals – so if you're a long time Nocturnal fan, Dancing in the Dark is required viewing.

Congratulations Insomniac, and happy birthday, Nocturnal Wonderland!