Let's dance with the NYC Rave Girls
Kseniya and Mary (AKA the NYC Rave Girls) and I dig into the New York electronic music scene, Teksupport, music soulmates, and the joy of documenting the dance floor with your bestie.
In a city full of party promoters and DJ collectives, the most trusted voices in New York nightlife might just be two girls with a TikTok account and a shared Uber home.
Kseniya and Mary—aka the “NYC Rave Girls” (IG, TikTok)—have carved out a space in the scene that’s both welcoming and discerning. Their content isn’t about clout-chasing or exclusivity. It’s about dancing. About joy. About feeling hot in your outfit and safe in your surroundings. Think Yelp for warehouse parties, but narrated by your funniest, most stylish friends. They’re not tastemakers in the traditional sense—they’re scene translators, making New York’s house and techno landscape legible for the girls who actually want to dance (not just pretend to on IG Story).
Since launching the account in late 2023, the duo has built a cult following across social media and Discord, becoming known for their honest takes on venues, music, playful party reviews, and hyper-specific style recs. But their real superpower is friendship. Their videos aren’t just nightlife content, they’re a love letter to the joy of dancing til 6am with your best friend. In a nightlife scene often defined by elitism, male-dominated lineups, and gatekept spaces, the NYC Rave Girls offer something refreshing: a front-row view into the beauty of community, movement, and showing up as your authentic self.
In our interview, we got into it all: the realities of creating content in nightlife spaces, the strange intimacy of being recognized in the bathroom line, their summer show recommendations, and why they’ll always prioritize friendship over FOMO.
OT: Thank you both for speaking with me. I’ve been a longtime follower of your content. Me and my friends are big into house music. Your content is not just fun, it’s actually been helpful. You’ve really carved out a space for yourselves, so great work.
Kseniya: Thank you! I love what you’re doing! It’s really cool. My degree is in journalism too, so I have a lot of admiration for building a platform from scratch.
OT: Aw thank you! So, let’s start at the beginning. How did NYC Rave Girls come to life? Give me the origin story.
Mary: We worked together at our full-time jobs for about four years. We started as semi-friends, and then Kseniya invited me to this boat party, Hot Honey Sundays. It was a summer day party, and I love house music. We didn’t even know that about each other yet.
We went, and we just really clicked. Then we went to another show together—I think it was Lane 8—and that sealed the deal. We realized we loved the same music and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. Kseniya kind of integrated me into her friend group, and everyone was already in the scene, so it just worked out really naturally.
Three years down the line, we’d joked around about doing a TikTok. Like, after a show, when you do that little debrief: how was the music, how was the crowd, was the venue good.
And then Kseniya was like, “I made the TikTok. Let’s do it.”
It was a show in September 2023— Tal Fussman and Echonomist’s set at Kings Hall, which is now dead. We just stream-of-consciousness filmed a TikTok. No editing, just captions, and it picked up a little traction. Then in March 2024, it really started growing. We did monthly recommendations, and then weekly. That’s what our whole platform is built on now.
From there, it snowballed into a community. We started a Discord because we got so many comments from people saying they wanted to link up and go to shows together, especially solo ravers, especially girls. It’s mostly girls in the Discord, which I think is really special (but there are lots of guys too). And it’s not just for finding shows. People share music, swap tickets safely, post about what’s going on in NYC, gossip, it’s super active and alive.
We started working with partners around mid-2023—mostly local promoters, some artist teams and record labels, even some event groups visiting the city. I used to work in social media at our former full-time job, so I was managing that side of things and eventually started wearing more hats. Kseniya was my higher-up. So we’ve always worked together.
Kseniya: Yeah, I started as a copywriter at that company and worked up to director of content. Content marketing is my jam. I’ve always lived and breathed social, even back to coding my MySpace page in seventh grade.
OT: Same but with Tumblr.
Kseniya: Yeah, I think Mary and I have both been digitally native. We're millennials, so it’s in our blood.
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OT: I’m curious about the safety aspect of what you do. Did you feel like there was a gap in the scene—especially for girls—to find recommendations from people who get it? Safety at shows is such a huge part of going out as a woman. Was that part of your ethos from the start?
Kseniya: It’s funny, because now everything has meaning and purpose, and it all lines up with our passions. But at the beginning, when we made this, it was truly just a fun project. We weren’t sitting down being like, “We’re going to become the curators of NYC nightlife,” or “We’re going to make space for girls to feel safe.”
We were just like… we live in NYC, we go raving all the time, and we’re girls. That was literally how the name came to be—NYC Rave Girls. And thank god we landed on that. I remember texting Mary being like, “Should it be Rave Girls NYC?” It just didn’t have the same ring.
But looking back, of course it makes sense. We're girls, and we want to go to these shows, and it is intimidating to step into nightlife as a young woman. I moved to New York in 2017 when I was 23. I’d just gone to my first rave in Kyiv, in Ukraine, and it was sick. For some reason, I felt safer there than here.
When I got to NYC, I didn’t have any friends yet, but I didn’t want that to stop me from going out. So I started going to raves alone. And I definitely got myself into some sketchy situations—luckily, I made it out fine. But both Mary and I have that awareness. We know what it’s like to not have a bestie to go with. So when this started picking up, we naturally stepped into that role.
Mary: Totally. And we noticed this new wave of ravers who started going out after the pandemic. It felt like they were just dropped into the scene with no foundation. EDM had this huge surge, but there was no etiquette. People didn’t know how to act at shows.
All of our friends, we feel super safe around them. Even our guy friends are the best guys. So part of our process has been trying to pass that along. Here’s what to look out for. Here’s how to act at a rave. And also, what raving really means—it’s not just showing up, it’s about energy, community, music.
We try to educate and guide through example. We hope people pick up on those cues and emulate that on the dance floor. Because it can ripple out.
OT: I actually wrote a Substack piece called You’re Ruining House Music after Coachella. I’ve been going to raves since I was 15, but it was wild to see how the vibe has shifted. People pushing to get video content, shoving through crowds, zero etiquette. That’s, like, the whole point of house music is community, connection, dancing.
I’d love to hear your perspective on what you feel is missing from today’s more commercialized scene, and what you think is coming back.
Kseniya: I love this question, and before we answer it, I think it’s important to acknowledge where raving came from. It wasn’t just born out of people wanting to party or do drugs. It was born from marginalized communities—specifically Black and queer communities—who needed space to feel safe, to dance, to express themselves. They weren’t welcome in the dominant social spaces, so they made their own.
In the U.S., that started in Chicago with house music and in Detroit with techno in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Both are Black music genres. So it’s interesting to see how popular house music is now with white people. And I say that as someone who’s white. It’s not that there should be a barrier to entry, but we need to honor the history and respect the space.
The core of raving is making sure everyone feels welcome. Respecting the space. Not judging how someone’s dancing or how they’re dressed. You’re there to protect each other, to contribute to the energy. That’s what makes it different from a concert or a party. You’re not there to be a passive observer, you’re there to be part of the energy.
Mary: Yeah. And it’s about dancing. Like, really dancing. Not standing around filming. And I get it—we’re on social media too, so we have that tension. But there are two ways to approach it.
Kseniya: You can be the old head who crosses their arms and says, “Gen Z doesn’t know how to rave,” or you can recognize that this generation grew up on social media—it’s who they are—and infiltrate. Get in there and show them how it’s done. Be a positive influence. We didn’t really plan it this way, but that’s kind of what we ended up doing.
Mary: Also, there’s such a fine line between a concert and a rave. Some people go to a Taylor Swift concert and bring that same mentality to a rave. They don’t realize they can put the phone away. They can turn toward their friends instead of the DJ. It’s okay to shut up and just be in the moment.
For us, that comes naturally because we’re both former professional dancers. So we love to move. We don’t feel the need to fill every moment with talking. And I think that’s hard for a lot of people, especially in an anxious, hyperstimulated generation. At a rave, you’re allowed to just… be. Let go.
OT: So with all that in mind, how do you pick which shows to highlight? What kind of music or venues are you personally drawn to? And how do you balance your own taste with catering to your audience?
Kseniya: We’re both house heads, through and through. Music soulmates. Our tastes are basically a Venn diagram with a big overlap, and then each of us has little crescent moons of niche interests. When we first started, it was purely based on personal taste. Like, we were posting maybe six shows a weekend, tops.
But as our following grew, we realized our community includes fans of techno, UKG, drum and bass—so we’ve tried to diversify. That said, we’re still prioritizing what we would go to. It’s still authentic to us. That’s the core. But we do keep an eye out for niche artists and include them when it makes sense.
Mary: And beyond just music taste, we try to think about the venue too. We’ve been to most venues in New York at this point. So we know what the vibe is, what kind of crowd it attracts. If we think the crowd might be off, we just won’t include the show.
We might love the artist, but if we’re recommending something, we want people to have a great experience. So if the crowd doesn’t pass the vibe check, or if the promoter has a sketchy history, we skip it.
And sometimes people will say, “You forgot this show.” And we’re like, no, we didn’t forget. That was a choice. There’s a reason.
Kseniya: Yeah, we spend hours on the recs list every week. Every single show that makes it on there, we’ve thought about it. We’ve looked at who’s throwing it, where it is, what the energy is going to be. We’re still learning and we’ve had some misses, but it’s all intentional.
OT: So what are some venues that you really love, and which ones do you tend to steer away from?
Mary: Knockdown Center is probably our favorite. Especially The Ruins. It’s such a unique outdoor space, and they never oversell it. You always have room to dance.
We also love 99 Scott, it’s so underrated. They don’t do as many shows, but when they do, it’s always a vibe. It’s got that grungy warehouse feel that people love.
I’ve also had really good experiences at SILO. It’s small, but the sound is great.
Kseniya: I love The Onyx Room—it’s super intimate. Also, Under the K Bridge. It used to be a proper underground venue, and now it’s a legit spot run by Bowery Presents, which is kind of wild.
Signal is another favorite. It’s actually run by friends of ours, and they built it for ravers. The floor is incredible, the sound system is elite—every detail has been thought through. They’re having some growing pains right now, though—more finance bros are finding it, which is… a shift.
We also love Nowadays, both indoor and outdoor. The no-phone policy on the dance floor is huge. They’ll even call people out if they’re chatting too much. Like, obviously you can talk a bit, especially about the music, but if you’re yelling about your boss or your dating life? Go to the bar.
Mary: I’ve also been loving the outdoor pop-up spaces this year—like Greenpoint Army Terminal by the water. Teksupport has been tapping a lot of those. It’s not the best sound, and they’re harder to get to, but the energy is amazing. I’ve lived in New York for fourteen years, and I still romanticize the city, so anytime I can dance by the water, I’m in.
Kseniya: Yeah. The only venues we really avoid are the Manhattan clubs. I just can’t with the idea that you can be turned away at the door for not looking a certain way. I’m all about accessibility. Most Brooklyn clubs are ticketed—you buy a ticket, you get in. Unless you’re a drunk mess, you’re good.
Mary: We get DMs like, “Why didn’t you include this club?” And I’m like… because it’s awful. Sorry.
Kseniya: Again—if it’s not on the list, it’s probably on purpose.
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OT: Okay, I have to ask—what’s your take on the Brooklyn Mirage drama?
Mary: I still stand by this: I was rooting for Mirage. I really was. I think it’s such a unique venue. Kseniya coined this—it’s like a festival venue. If you want that big production, high-stakes, lasers-everywhere energy, it had that. And I think there should be a place in New York for that kind of show.
But… it’s just been bad juju. Poor leadership. No accountability. They can’t seem to figure it out.
Kseniya: Mirage used to be fucking sick. The first time I went was Cityfox Halloween in 2018. It was still gritty then. It felt underground, even though it was the biggest space you could go to.
Then they brought in that giant screen no one asked for. Bottle service. VIP sections. The original Mirage had none of that. It was a parking lot.
And then it just kept getting more and more corporate. The screen got even bigger. The sound changed. And then came the disaster with Electric Zoo (EZoo), and a lot of artists—rightfully—refused to come back.
OT: Yeah, that EZoo mess was major.
Kseniya: Totally. And what’s wild is how that created a domino effect. Teksupport had kind of been the underground underdog. But after the Mirage fallout, artists started shifting to them. And now Teksupport owns the city like the mafia. They’ve got the Brooklyn Storehouse, all the pop-up spaces, all the big artists. They completely took over.
Mary: And I do feel bad for Mirage. Like, yes, they messed up. But I liked having them around because it took some of the pressure off other venues. When people who aren’t really part of the scene just want to go out for the weekend, Mirage was a good spot for that. Let them have that experience, and it kept more immersive spaces sacred.
Kseniya: And for artists it’s a real loss. There are artists who are too big to play anywhere else. They need a space like Mirage to host a proper crowd. Otherwise, you get someone like Sara Landry doing five different shows around the city to meet demand. It just doesn’t scale.
We’ve had some of our best nights at Mirage—Keinemusik last year and the year before was unreal. July 4th, insane. And all our friends were like, “We hate Mirage.” But we’re like, no, you just have to go to the right show. There was still magic there. Anjunadeep, too. Unreal lasers, sound, visuals.
Mary: Nothing’s black and white for us. We really try to feel the nuance. And the Mirage conversation is a perfect example of how complicated this scene can be.
OT: In terms of content creation—do you two divide roles? Like, is one of you more of the planner or strategist, and the other more of the editor or face of the brand? Or are you sharing everything?
Mary: Right now, we basically do everything together. It’s a team effort. Kseniya definitely handles the weekly recs. That’s her baby. We both film and contribute, but she spearheads that.
Beyond that, we’re kind of in a “whoever can jump in, jumps in” phase. The inbox is always full. Some weeks are slower, others it’s like a flood. We both have other work going on outside of Rave Girls, so we just pick up where we can.
Kseniya: Yeah, and we both bring different strengths. I love strategy and writing—I come from a content marketing background—so if we’re doing something that needs strong copy or a bigger picture POV, I’ll take the lead. Mary’s really creative and intuitive. She’s amazing with people and has a great eye for ideas in the moment.
Like at Keinemusik last year, she just looked around and was like, “Everyone’s wearing scarves.” And she was like, we should make a video featuring all of them. I shot the footage, she pitched the concept and it got half a million views on TikTok. Lots of opinions, but a great example of how we collaborate.
Mary: Sometimes it’s one of us with the idea and the other executes. Sometimes it’s split 50/50. We really trade off naturally.
OT: Do you have a long-term vision for where this is going? Or are you just kind of playing and seeing where things lead?
Kseniya: Honestly, it’s been moving so fast. This time last year, we were just starting to pop off on TikTok. We hadn’t even made our Instagram yet. The Discord had like 30 people. Now it has 4,500 active members—and that’s a lot for a Discord that’s popping 24/7.
So we’re still figuring it out as we go. We’ve been trying things out, seeing what sticks. For example, back in February, we were like, “How can we get to Miami Music Week?” We didn’t have a plan, but we felt like we were ready.
Then we manifested it—literally. Ultra Records reached out to us. That same week. We did a partnership with them, covered all their artists. That was a huge moment.
Mary: Yeah, it’s been week-by-week. One week we’re like, “We should throw more parties.” The next we’re managing a smaller artist’s social strategy.
OT: Wait, tell me more about that artist work.
Mary: Yeah! So we were working with these indie electronic artists based in France—friends of ours—and they asked us to help build their social media. And we were like, this is literally what we do in our sleep. So we created a full content calendar for them, came up with video ideas based on their tour schedule and music releases.
There’s a real gap there. So many amazing artists have no idea how to market themselves. We realized we could do that—help smaller artists tell their stories, connect with audiences. And we’d love to do more of that.
Kseniya: On top of that, we’ve started throwing events. We just announced a 4th of July collab with Moving Company—they do those wild Williamsburg Bridge parties. That’s something I’ve always loved. My background includes event marketing too. Mary is great at artist relations. So we’re figuring out what lights us up and following it.
Mary: We don’t want to be a weekly or even monthly party brand. But we do want to bring the community together. So when we throw something, it’s special.
Kseniya: The best is when we go to a show and see twenty people standing together who are like, “We met in your Discord!” That’s the magic. That’s what we care about most.
OT: Okay, rapid fire. What’s one song that will always get you dancing no matter what?
Kseniya: Oof. Okay—“Candyland” by Tchailyn. He’s a small producer from Montreal, but Solomon has been playing it in his sets. It’s this indie dance track with this 80s vibe.
Mary: That got my gears turning! I’d say “Do For Your Love” by Notre Dame. He just dropped that track. It’s such a lovely, melodic, warm kind of build, it just lifts you. He’s also going to be opening up for Solomon.
OT: What’s your go-to rave look?
Mary: I’m very Sporty Spice. I always wear biker shorts, an oversized jersey or tee, my checkered Vans for comfort and cuteness, and a headscarf. Always my signature cat-eye sunglasses—those are kind of our trademark now. They’re even on our merch.
Kseniya: I don’t really have a consistent look, it depends on the season, the venue, and the music. But it’s usually something bold. Colorful, mismatched patterns, big earrings, funky pants, supportive shoes. I care more about being able to dance than anything else.
Mary: She’s being modest. Kseniya is our Scary Spice. She’s eclectic, fun, always with colorful sneaks and layered accessories.
OT: What’s one set you’ll talk about for the rest of your life?
Kseniya: Adam Ten B2B Mita Gami at 99 Scott. And Mita Gami’s NYE set in Costa Rica. It was an eight-hour set at our friend’s festival, Labyrinto. He played from midnight to 8 a.m., and it was transcendental. It somehow wasn’t enough. We could’ve danced till noon.
Mary: Same answers. That Adam Ten x Mita Gami set was unreal. It was the perfect night. The crowd was amazing, the set was flawless, the vibes were unreal. We ended up at an afters until 6 a.m. and didn’t stop talking about it for weeks.
OT: What’s your go-to move if a creepy guy is bothering you at a show?
Kseniya: Hard turn away and dance aggressively with my friends. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll send in Mango—he’s my 6’3” husband and a rave guardian. Very funky, very nonviolent, but intimidating when needed.
Mary: Honestly, same. I just dodge. I’m a dodger. And we’re usually in really respectful spaces. We tend to go to shows with great community energy. But if someone’s bugging me, I just spin out and dance in the opposite direction.
Also, shoutout to the NYC Rave Guys in our Discord—they all pass the vibe check. We’ve never met a creepy one, and they always look out for each other and for us.
OT: Okay—summer preview time. What shows are you looking forward to?
Kseniya: The Ruins. Literally just… The Ruins. Anything there is worth it. But LF System is going to be amazing—super disco-y, house-y. And if you want something deeper, Akumandra on July 5th will be fire.
Also, our July 4th collab with Moving Company. It’s a secret location, 4 p.m. to 8 a.m., so you can choose your own adventure.
Mary: Allegedly, Adam Ten and Mita Gami are coming back this summer. If that happens, I will drop all plans. And I love anything day-to-night. Like, I’m done being out at 6 a.m., I like a good act that ends by midnight.
Kseniya: Also: Mr. Sunday, Hot Honey Sundays, and Tiki Disco. The holy trinity of Sunday day parties. Everyone should go to at least one this summer.
Fan Mail questions…let’s go:
OT: Who would you send fan mail to right now?
Kseniya: DJ Minx. She’s one of the OGs—started DJing in Detroit in 1989. She’s in her 50s and finally getting the recognition she deserves. She’s a legend and one of my biggest inspirations.
Mary: Chris Luno. He’s an Anjunadeep artist and just gives off this pure, warm, kooky energy. He connects with fans in such an authentic way and his social media is always a little silly but totally sincere. I just wanna hug him.
OT: Who deserves more fan mail?
Both: Fahlberg. Hands down. He was our top artist last year and he’s still criminally underrated.
Kseniya: I’m actually opening for him soon at the Sol Party on June 29th and we’re both freaking out. He’s doing insane work and more people need to be paying attention.
OT: Who deserves less fan mail?
Mary: Keinemusik. Just to be clear—I still love Keinemusik. Their July 4th weekend sets the past two years were some of my favorite shows of the year, and I’m seeing them twice this summer.
That said, I want to encourage their newer fans to really lean into the experience. You don’t need to film the drop when Adam Port plays “Move.” They play long, extended sets for a reason—it’s meant to be a journey. So settle in, let go on the dance floor, and enjoy the ride.
Kseniya: I’ll raise you one: Diplo. He treats women terribly and has a long, well-documented history of abuse and manipulation. And yet he’s still out here getting bookings, doing viral subway sets, and people treat him like some cool guy. He’s not. He’s the tech bro of EDM and it’s exhausting.