Fox&Badge FLASHBACK #10: 2025
This is our final flashback of our 10 years of running Fox&Badge in the countdown to our NYE birthday... this year was another beautiful one. We welcomed live music, embraced ritual, and went absolutely wild on the American frontier.
💘CarniVALENTINES💘
Every Fox&Badge event has its own energy, and this one was overflowing with love, joy, colour and connection. It felt lighter, warmer, brighter, and more open-hearted than usual - the kind of night where people kept hugging strangers and grinning at each other on the dancefloor.
The energy lifted early when the huge samba band of drummers pounded through the dancefloors, pulling everyone into the rhythm, completely changing the room. The 4 feathered goddesses from Brazilian Fantasy burst onto all the dancefloors in a flurry of radiant smiles and feathers.
We suffused the sound with the spirit of Carnival. 3 of our main SambaDrome DJs were Brazilian; Caroles flew in from Rio, brimming with Carnival energy. She said afterwards that it was the most immersive and loving dancefloor she’d ever played - and that sense of mutual exchange between DJ, performers and crowd was tangible all night.
At midnight we held a moment of solemnity, where our voiceover gave thanks to winter, and bid our goodbyes. We then held a moment for our dear passed DJ sister Alaya, AKA Crystal Manias, who played at exactly that moment only a few months ago, and had now passed on.
And then we turned towards new imminent life, and to dear pregnant Izzy, one of our core performers, due in weeks. We paused to revere her, her incoming child,, and all mothers, including her own - who also used to be a dancer, and now danced alongside her.
It reminded us of the circle of life, that Carnival as a winter festival has always held space for grief as well as joy - and that remembering together matters. We make space for grief as the prelude of joy.
☘️CELTIC SPRING☘️
Celtic Spring felt like a real deepening for us, embracing the spiritual and collective, the earthy and alive, energetic and mythic. One of the biggest shifts was hosting our first ever live music room — the Chamber of Voice.
Instead of live musicians being an occasional layer on top of DJs, instruments, voices, and live human bodies became central. Singers, folk musicians and bands flowed in and out of the night, sometimes solo, sometimes en masse; sometimes collaborating directly with DJs and performers.
David channeled spirit; Zoot ran a kinky ceilidh; Katya & crew summoned us all to song. Perkelt and The Urban Druids whipped us all into a frenzy. It was fresh, raw, intimate, and crazily powerful.
We also dove deeper into ritual and meaning. The night opened and closed with ceremony, and one of the most special moments came early on with a handfasting. What started as a request from someone in our community grew into a mighty seven couples being handfasted together - including us!
It was crazily chaotic to pull off mid-production, overwhelmingly emotional, beautiful, and perfect. The community really held us. Our team led us both down to the wishing tree shrine at the end of the night for a blessing, beautiful group hug, and the now-established ritual of a collective team dance as finale.
Celtic Spring felt like a step closer to what we’re really trying to do: create nights where music, story, body and spirit are all in conversation; where heart and soul are truly awakened, play meets prayer; where people don’t just attend, but belong.
🐎WILD WEST🐎
Wild West was pure fun; a sea of hats and smiles, filled with a raucous rapture for the moment, with a really easy, playful energy across the crowd. It felt lighter than some of our heavier mythic worlds, and that was exactly what made it work so well.
Niss built a jail; Jack built sexy saloon doors. We created a large immersive saloon, filled with experiences. You could go gamble, or get tied up as a pony, or get milked; every event this year has unleashed a fascination with milk and milking. Jorid led a crew to lavish milk and cream all over themselves in the middle of the dancefloor; Jao hauled herself aloft on chains and splashed her body with milk.
The aerialists were all extraordinary. Lee trussed up unruly steed Caio, and rode him to our delight. Luke fought Emma, until she showed him that art trumped violence, and he whipped her around magnificently on the Spanish Web.
Danny mournfully surveyed his belongings, until he discovered a magic saddle he could ride into the skies, where he twirled magnificently. The audience gasped as he plunged a carrot into his shadows, then inserted a fountain candle and spun round spewing sparks; genius, and joy.
The DJS were as spectacular, with standout sets that magically combined our signature driving melodic techno sound with a deep taste of the theme. We’re increasingly trying to work with DJs that don’t just play sets, but play thematic artistic soundscapes; that deeply attune to the transformative potential of the theme. DJ VENERE brought on board guitarist Nicola Bergamo to play live rock guitar, wildly strumming to her beats, and it was mindblowingly sensational. Mathilde sawed on her violin throughout Arc’s set, while outside, we continued our explorations of live, organic music, hosting 2 singers songwriters, 2 bands, and a TechnHoedown!
🔥WORKSHOPS🔥
We continued to explore much more intimate and connective events in our monthly meetups, offering the kinds of events we don’t find elsewhere - with a whiff of innocence and kink, depravity and authenticity, edginess and love.
We ran 3 versions of Sensual Speed Dating enabling singles to meet and let their bodies navigate deeper levels of connection beyond words, and plan to continue this work next year, perhaps even monthly, perhaps inviting a wider community.
We collaborated with Seren Iceni on various workshops exploring love, eroticism, ritual and celebration.
We just ran our 2nd Heart Wave dance with Dominik Schnell, exploring the beauty and tension of masculine and feminine energies, and bringing a new edge to ecstatic dance, which we will continue to explore next year at the Equinoxes and Solstices, and we welcome all the ways in which our community yearns to connect and grow.
Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your contribution and connection and co-creation - whether in the past, or possibly in the future. Thank you for a wild and wonderful past decade, bursting with so much depth and joy.
We wouldn’t exist or be able to dream these things if it wasn’t for you. We are so grateful for your trust and support, and deeply look forward to deepening our bonds of community and soul explorations over the coming decade.
