“We are very excited, tired and nervous. There is no proper name for this feeling. I am sure that this will be the best night in my life, we’ve been working for a long time for this”, states Sencity’s Content Officer Gaby Costa as the club’s doors open.
This is one of the rare club nights when you see many visitors already queuing before the club opens. The shy visitors stare at the dance floor but still avoid stepping on it. However I knew that the vibrating dance floor would be packed up later on, so I decided to take the opportunity and test how well does the bass feel. Well, let’s say that it was worth to even sit on the dance floor.

Hairstylists and make-up artists from Jyväskylän ammattiopisto gathered quite a line of excited women to their spots. After many days of sitting by the computer I felt really tempted to go to the masseuse point provided by Hierontapalvelu Mikko Peura and Raikas Olo. In the end I had the opportunity to only watch how people got their backs fixed. As my demanding sweet tooth forced me to take a couple of bags of M&M’s and eat Ingman’s ice-cream, there were already 400 visitors after the first hour.
“This is the first time that the music can be really felt, not like in other events arranged for deaf people”, explains 51-year-old Marja Varis, “I am here to see Signmark, because I haven’t seen him yet, but it is nice to be here, such an amazing atmosphere”, Varis continued. At the event I could see a lot of talking, but not hear anything at all; people were having passionate discussions with their hands.

Then it was time for the first performances of the evening. JKL City Breakers and Cooma Dancers delivered high-class dance tricks and routines and got the audience grooving. "Performing in Sencity was most of all extremely well-arranged. The schedule worked and we didn't have to make any last minute changes. The biggest difference to other gigs would be the vibrating dance floor, from which you could feel the rhytm. It felt funny when it vibrated and you had to make sure to not lose your balance", says Saara Jolkkonen who performed for the second time in Sencity from Cooma Dancers. After midnight, the night’s most expected act took the stage. The gig of Signmark and Brandon made it really hard for people to move around; the dance floor, stairs and the upper floor were packed by amazed viewers. As watching the audience being so enthusiastic about Signmark, it then really felt that there were no boundaries between the deaf and hearing. “Signmark was really nice, there was a good atmosphere, it was better than a normal concert. Sencity is a great idea and I enjoyed the experience, this should be arranged more often”, Justine Boudet says.

As the hours passed by and the partying still continued, Mira Metsälehto praised it to be great when there were happy and different kind of people, who were so tolerant towards each other. It was Metsälehto’s second time to experience Sencity and she thinks that the program and offerings are really good, but frets that she didn’t come on time to see the first performances.
When the light signal came, all you could see were the visitors who didn’t want to leave right away and the crew being exhausted but satisfied. “I am tired as hell, but it was very fun and I would do it again. This was a great experience in my life and I’m telling this from the bottom of my heart,” states Gaby Costa. This was how the event was lived, see you in Sencity 2011!