People with an affinity for parties have a sensitivity that’s hard to put a finger on. While they’ve lived different lives, they somehow end up finding kindred spirits in the dead of night (or at sunrise). For some, this nightlife is an escape; for others, it’s just a space where they feel understood. Whatever it is, on the dance floor, their inner worlds merge into a collective experience, leading to nights shared under the same rhythms.
This is something Manila-based collective Thank You For The Music (TYFM) understands well. The homegrown party series has studied when the music should breathe or erupt, while adept at how to make a room feel welcoming. This expertise came through in their recent gathering perched at the top floor of the World Trade Exchange, an old office building in Binondo, last June 6.
By sunrise, no one seemed ready to leave. The dance floor had thinned just enough for familiar faces to find one another, while those who had met hours earlier embraced like old friends. Then came the final track: Jamiroquai’s “Seven Days in Sunny June.” Only later did everyone realize the coincidence—it was sunrise on the seventh day of June.
Bringing together Thai DJ DOTT, local selectors, immersive production design, and around 500 guests, the night came together in a dance floor that TYFM had always dreamed of.
Thank you for the music
TYFM was founded by friends long rooted in Manila’s nightlife community. Beyond organizing parties, the collective aims to foster cultural exchange while celebrating local talent, all the while creating spaces where people can connect.
“The genesis is simply a group of friends who decided to give back,” says Vince Pante of TYFM. “We wanted to take every bit of lived experience—every dance, every laugh, every tear—and with our own hands cultivate times and spaces where those moments can happen.”
“We wanted to take every bit of lived experience—every dance, every laugh, every tear—and with our own hands cultivate times and spaces where those moments can happen”
Meanwhile, fashion designer and TYFM co-founder Stacy Rodriguez explains the vision: “We wanted to create spaces and dancefloors that we dreamed of… A lot of the details we put into our parties are based on the user experience—what we’ve learned from going to different parties around the world.”
Building the dance floor
Instead of another warehouse or nightclub in Makati or BGC, TYFM invited guests onto the 36th floor of an old building, high above the storied streets of the world’s oldest Chinatown. “It was a bit of a labyrinth coming in,” Rodriguez recalls. “You don’t fully feel the whole room right away, so you’re not overwhelmed.”
Once inside, guests spilled into an air-conditioned dance floor and bar, while just outside, a pool offered a calmer place to decompress. And despite welcoming roughly 500 guests, the venue didn’t feel overcrowded. “We had to be really careful about capacity because we didn’t want the room to feel overbooked,” Rodriguez says.
The transformation of the space was well thought out, too, as production designer Nimrod Sarmiento drew on old Chinatown and Hong Kong references. Meanwhile, director Aaron Cabangis reimagined the interiors through lighting interventions—anchored by the Lucky Cat Shrine.
On the other hand, Bangkok-based lighting designer Kunchan Fook Iambenjasub of Human Spectrum, who has worked on festivals including Wonderfruit, programmed evolving lights that changed alongside the music, making the room itself feel alive with the pump of music.
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An emotional arc
You know a DJ set is good if the night moves like a journey. More so if the fleeting moments stay with you afterward. Instead of booking DJs just to keep the energy high, TYFM and Moving Parts approached the lineup like a carefully paced story.
“We thought of an emotional arc built on themes of tasteful play, a sonic footprint unique to Manila, and a belief that Southeast Asia has made a big splash in the global music circuit recently,” says Kevin Shaw, or Nomoclassiq, of Moving Parts.
The evening opened with BabyIkea, whose cinematic selections eased guests into the space instead of throwing them onto the dance floor. “We wanted the first DJ to provide an atmospheric and moody ease into the proceedings,” Shaw says. “I still get chills thinking about the ambient and trip-hoppy sounds he bathed the space in.”
Carlos del Prado of Moving Parts—DJ name Shrugs—describes it as “such a graceful landing… That alone already set the night apart for me,” he wistfully says.
Horseboyy followed, pulling the room toward its first burst of energy through hard house and happy hardcore influences. “The following DJ needed to send a clear signal that the dance floor was open for business,” says Shaw.
“I’ve seen Horseboyy play before and it’s always a treat,” del Prado says. “There’s a specific energy he really brings out.”
By the time Thai selector DOTT stepped behind the decks, the room was fully immersed. One of the most influential figures in Thailand’s underground dance scene, DOTT arrived with exclusive edits and unreleased productions created specifically for Manila. “He proved he was the guy for the job,” Shaw says. “His musicality is honestly genius.”
Del Prado agrees, “He has such a particular hold on a room—a sensitivity that’s mixed with a sound that’s very much signature to him. He really thinks about what might speak to the audience.”
As dawn approached, Moving Parts took over with disco, indie, rock, R&B and house, replacing intensity with warmth that flowed through their sunrise set. “There was honestly a bit of self-gratification at play,” Shaw jokes. “We’d always wanted to play a sunrise set. We didn’t leave anything off the table in service of making people happy.”
“The whole experience didn’t really hit home until we started playing,” del Prado states. “By that time, everything felt almost like a dream.”
Anchored in community
If music carried the night, Jane Torres of TYFM reflects, “What made the night successful was the crowd… There was this rare balance of people really letting loose while still bringing a sense of style and intention… The room felt like everyone knew each other, even when they didn’t.”
Jem Capeding paints an image of the scene, “It was intoxicating to feel, hear and see it all come together at once… The bass rumbling against my back and beneath my feet; a hundred voices echoing ‘you’re free’ across the hall; watching friends old and new embracing; the orange hues from a Manila Bay sunrise seeping through colored windows.”
Meanwhile, Ayon Sanchez believes moments like these are never guaranteed. “We all take part in nightlife and music whether as dancers, organizers or DJs in search of those fleeting moments that stay with us for a very long time… It proved Manila is ready with a spirit of boldness to embrace all kinds of sounds, vibes and experiences.”
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“We all take part… in search of those fleeting moments that stay with us for a very long time… It proved Manila is ready with a spirit of boldness”
For Vince, those moments are ultimately why TYFM exists. “Selflessness is unheralded in a world where ego reigns supreme,” he reflects. “We’re happy staying on the sidelines—watching everything blossom and come to life.”
As guests made their way downstairs and back into the city, “Seven Days in Sunny June” lingered in the air. No one really planned for the song to serendipitously play on the seventh of June. And like the best nights out, it happened naturally.
Perhaps this end to the set is what Rodriguez meant when she described TYFM’s guiding philosophy: “The destination is always dance.”
Photos by Borgy Angeles
