One of America’s top trance DJs lived up to her reputation with an extraordinary performance Friday night.

URB magazine’s “Best Female Artist of the Year” (along with Lauryn Hill) in 1999, Sandra Collins, rewarded a small but energetic crowd at Pulse Niteclub and Lounge, 55 E. Main St., spinning a set of her trademark dark, deep trance with a bit of progressive house mixed in.

Collins, a DJ who is used to playing at packed clubs all over the world, delivered the type of performance that would be expected from someone who resides at the top of their field.

She was not discouraged by the size of the crowd, instead Collins responded strongly to the enthusiasm from a group of people which gathered just to see her play.

The small size of the crowd allowed for the show to have a more intimate feeling and it gave both the performer and the audience a better chance of feeling a connection with each other.

Putting a tiny American flag up in the DJ booth, Collins started her set slowly and warmed up the crowd with a few low tempo trance songs. A half hour into her set she really began to get things moving. The whole club went silent as she stopped the music for a few seconds.

Collins looked out into the dark interior of the club as all those within were bathed in blue and black lights. She then pointed out at the now cheering crowd, building up the excitement level among those gathered, before playing her next record.

The next moment the speakers roared again and Collins showed why she has been dubbed “The Trance Goddess.” Cranking up the volume, Collins drew people onto the dance floor with her music. It soon seemed everyone in the club fell under a spell which she was weaving.

As the evening progressed, Collins continued to increase the intensity level in the music before slowing things down and allowing the crowd a second to catch their breath. She did this several times, and after each slow point in the music she would turn up the tempo a bit, eliciting more cheers from the crowd.

After building the intensity and energy in her music over the first hour, Collins took it to the next level during the final part of her set. Every song she played had a faster pace and now there were no pauses in the songs. Both Collins and the crowd began to feed off the energy generated by the music while Collins seemlessly blended together one song after another, amazing the crowd.

Due to time constraints, Collins was forced to finish her set earlier than she wanted to, but she closed it out with a stunning extended remix of the club classic “Papau New Guinea,” by Future Sound of London. The crowd cheered loudly, thanking her for her visit.

Collins delivered one of the best sets of music Columbus has seen in a while, and it is a shame that so few people got to see it. Those who did, left the club knowing they had seen something special.

This was Collins’ first visit to Columbus. She has released two albums, “Lost in Time” (1997) and “Tranceport 3” (2000) and has an upcoming release under the Cream label.

In 1998, the Global DJ Awards chose Collins as “Best Trance DJ of the Year.” She has also held residencies at some of America’s top clubs, including New York city’s Twilo Nightclub and Chicago’s Crobar Nightclub, in the last few years.