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Mar
7thSally Can’t Dance: experimental noise makers gather in their new hutong home

D22’s zooming nights may have been put on hiatus with the venue’s closure earlier this year, but the city’s experimental musicians came out of hibernation last weekend, joined by fellow noise makers from around China for the 4th (semi-) annual Sally Can’t Dance festival. Though not a huge fan of this style of music, I decided to swing past the venue and see what was on offer, after all the as yet ‘un-named venue’ of the former D22 team is literally across the road from my house, it would be rude not to have dropped in! To find out more about the history of this festival and those organising it this year head over to Pangbianr’s post here. My fellow hutong dwellers probably don’t yet realise who’s moved into our hood judging by the strange looks as they passed the mix of laowai and locals loitering around the venue’s doorway. As the venue itself isn’t due to open officially until May, the festival preparations in the new space were minimal and didn’t include a bar as yet, so it was a BYO affair, the local 7-11’s fridge looking very bare by the end of the weekend. Saturday afternoon saw the small dimly lit downstairs performance space filled with eager listeners come to here the best experimental musicians in the country had to offer. I made it just as Zhang Shouwang and Yan Yulong were setting up their electric guitar and violin on a table in the centre of the room [...]