Yonael Berhe

DANCE OR DIE

Creative Direction, Experiential Design, CurationThe Team: Yonael Berhe, Grayson Fullwood, Icky Patterson, Jaydon Suddeth, Tyrel Odendahl, Carter Thomas Dance or Die is an open-format rave hosted quarterly in Charlotte, NC. Our ethos is implied by the name. Creating a space for young people in Charlotte to gather to listen to amazing music of all genres and dance their hearts out, as we believe dance is essential to life. This is a concerted effort by both Donsworld & UmOk?, with each member contributing immeasurably. 

My role on the team specicfically was the curation of performing DJs, designing & operating lighting for the live show, general graphic design support, shooting/editing photography, and developing the creative direction of each shows unique brand from the ground up.

DOD5: 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Celebrating the 1 year anniversary of Dance or Die, our goal with this event was to harken back to the grungey DIY elements of classic rave culture. 

Secret location, wheat pasted posters for REAL textures, harsh minimalist lighting, and a crazy setlist. What more could the people want?
CREATIVE DIRECTION & DESIGN






DOD4

DANCE OR DIE 4 is an exploration of Y2K web culture, and the ways in which people communicate through their PC’s. Specifically began with an exploration of forum culture and expanded from there. 

I built out a live forum website in which fans of Dance or Die could create accounts, and discuss all things about and related to the event, and took this aesthetic across the campaign as a whole.

CREATIVE DIRECTION & DESIGN


DJ PROMOS


FORUM SITE




DOD3
When beginning the concept exploration for DOD3, we discussed the modes of communications used for community building, a core ethos of Dance or Die as an event. 

We became attached to the different forms and medias used for cellular communication, and how it’s evolved over time. It began with a 3D rendering of a custom DOD pager. Then as we continued developing, connecting the yellow pages to our visual design language was a natural progression, and gave us a fun playground to push the boundries of. 

This included developing fake ads, developing a layout design langauge, and bringing to life the visceral textures you feel as you flip through the yellow pages.



CREATIVE DIRECTION & DESIGN




CURATED THE SETLIST



LIGHTING DESIGN




RESULTS