A foam party is a social event at which participants dance to music on a dance floor covered in several feet of suds or bubbles, dispensed from a foam machine.

History

Foam parties can be dated back to ''A Rhapsody in Black and Blue'', a 1932 short film directed by

Aubrey Scotto Aubrey H. Scotto (August 21, 1895 – June 24, 1953) was an American film director, writer and film editor. Born in Los Angeles and active in films from 1929, Scotto graduated from directing short subjects to Republic Pictures features in 1933. ...

, wherein

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

dances, sings, and plays his trumpet in a large area of soap suds. Songs performed in the foam are "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You" and "Shine". Another film featuring foam parties is '' The Party'', featuring

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

. Modern foam parties were developed in the early 1990s by club promoters in

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

. Generally, machines were large, ceiling-mounted foam generators, created by Weird Dream Productions, that created a large volume of foam that fell from the ceiling onto clubbers. The large water usage and subsequent cleanup required made this impractical for many venues., resulting in a demand upon Weird Dream Productions to modify their foam to be of low water content. Weird Dreams achieved this in model Mk III which produced 200,000 litres per minute with just 50l of water. UK style leaders Big Fun and Roy Barlow Leisure purchased machines from Weird Dream Productions and later began manufacturing their own versions, creating a global market for the product, and these three companies remained global market leaders throughout the craze. All market leaders were UK-based until around 2004. In recent years, companies have utilized inflatable pits, especially for foam parties to avoid the mess that venues seek to avoid at all costs. As Ibiza foam parties became more popular, the craze spread, and the foam cannon was developed by Roy Barlow from The Entertainment Biz and Robin Wincup from Galaxy. In the 1990s, foam parties were performed weekly at

Amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...

in Ibiza.

Safety

There are numerous hazards associated with foam parties. In 2008, three people were electrocuted and two others injured at a foam party at the Venezia Palace Hotel in

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

, Turkey.

References

External links

* {{Parties Parties