In “In the Empire of the Beat,” Walter Hughes argues that disco music reorganizes the dance-floor in a contradictory manner. Disco music disciplines the bodies of the dancers while providing the dancers with a ground for free expression. Disco dance music is a form of popular music for dancing that is recorded with complex electronic instrumentation in which a pulsating and heavy rhythmic beat subordinates the repetitive lyrics. This form of dance music emanated from the urban nightlife scene of the United States. The participants were allowed to freely express themselves through dance and were the foundation for contemporary dance music culture. Disco music allowed individuals to express their queerness freely. Another example of dance music that will enable people to express themselves freely is house dance music.

House music, like disco music, is a genre of electronic dance music which is associated with a four-on-the-floor beat and typical musical tempo. Similar to disco music, house music does not also have a specific dance pattern. The dancers are allowed to express their queerness through dance freely. Another similarity is in the instrumentation of the music genres. House music and disco music genres apply a typical four on the floor musical instrumentation. The main difference between the two music techniques is that house feels more mechanical and inhuman and does not consider the warm and organic references considered in disco music and other EDM music genres. Free dance patterns allow us to express who we are and illustrate the restrictions we have on our minds to dance.

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