History
Founded in 1985 by a group of adepts who first recognized the need for
a night spot especially intended for young peope eager to dance
to the sound of their favorite music, and also to attend live
shows presented by reputed popular artists, the Moulin à
Danses de Lausanne (the Lausanne Dance Mill), appropriately named
"MAD" for short, soon earned an enviable fame as one
of most reputed discotheques in the whole of Europe.
At the time, the idea of dancing to the sound of recorded music,
diffused at a high level on an elaborate sound system operated
by a disk jockey was already making its way. By now, it has become
common practice. What is new, however, is the emergence of a
new art: disk jockeys are now recognized as full fledged performing
artists, travelling from country to country and often commanding
high fees. Thus, name of visiting disk jockeys has become an
essential factor in building the reputation of a discotheque,
together of course with the originality of the decor and lighting,
and other such factors. But most of all, a discotheque must be
recognized as being "in", as expressed in the language
its customers, and referring not only to the quality of the music,
but also the undescribable quality of "feeling". On
this particular score, the MAD is highly successful, as it enjoys
a reputation comparable to that of the most reputed night spots
in the entire world.
Located in a renovated warehouse in a neighborood now emerging as one
of the centers of the rising contemporary culture in Lausanne,
it is open five days a week, and operates on five different floors,
with three independant sound systems, four bars and a restaurant.
It can cater to a total of one thousand customers at a time,
most of them in the range of 18 to 25 years of age. It has a
permanent membership of over three thousand, but also admits
many visitors on a nightly basis, a good number of which come
from other Swiss cities or even foreign countries. It is also
rented, on an occasional basis, to private organizations, mostly
student societies. Needless to say that besides the dance parties,
the Mad has remained truthful to its original vocation of presenting
public concerts of world-reputed soloists and musical groups
(see attached list).
In recent years, the MAD has added to its activities the Atlantis
festival, a yearly event presented simultaneously in several
spots in Lausanne and/or other cities, and attended by thousands
of fans, with the participation of many world-famous disk jockeys
and groups.
