Have Legs Will Dance
Dance Music Culture. That’s what we call it, and month in and month out websites, magazines and conversation with friends surround, discuss and dissect everything about it from the dj’s and music to the parties, equipment and club layouts. Yes, when you find yourself debating the soundscape of a Funktion1 sound system and whether the dj’s tunes are working the room- you’re no longer an ordinary party-loving patron anymore.
Back in the day the ‘The Lifestyle’ meant you were into some seriously kinky stuff in high society circles but these days it refers to anyone immersed in their subculture and indeed it refers to us in ours. We eat, breathe and dream Electronic Dance Music. We talk about dj’s like they’re our neighbours and plot our nocturnal rendezvous with more zeal than a dancing dervish. And yes, men even plan their party outfits!
But with all the analytics, politics and fashion frolics- there’s a huge industry element lacking in limelight and love: The dancing. The body slamming, club slumming and shoe shuffling antics- our physical offering if you will- brought to action whenever we hear our flavoured beat. Dancing is the club cultured roots that brought us here in the first place. It’s where we met, made and merged party families- because we found other people like us, who understood the music like us- who moved like us. And it just made sense that we moved together.
Even those Skippies on the Funky Floor… sure, they almost knock out half the club with their moves but they’re sweating in glorious, unadultered Fidget bliss; a community and vibe all of their own- this is their moment, their music’s reflexious identity- and they’ve been working up a life-size stutter all week to purge into this release! And before you beat them away with a well-oiled Techno Arm, behold The Krochn; a spastic little dance with fancy footwork infecting Techno floors across Europe- and soon, a dark and pokey dancefloor near you! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Every sound has its soldiers and we all march in our own special way. Even our team of party-stompers have their own rodeo-techno dance- now affectionately dubbed ‘The Hade Ho’ – like Howdy Ho but with a South African twist- well that’s what happens when the Saffa’s make such a momentous discovery!- and there’s nothing like a marathon party familia Ho-down. As my friend Sj so rightly puts it, ‘This is what we came here for!’ And indeed, bender weekenders trying to dance at every great party on offer have seen the word ‘legless’ redefined.
Forget ‘unconscious expressive movement’- okay, ye that too- but first and foremost this is about compulsion. The unexplainable urge to direct your feet to that dance floor and surrender to the music again and again. You know, that moment when you realise you’re in; you’re body starts to ride the groove and you don’t even have to think about legs and arms and rhythm, they all just seem to come together and cavort in the most perfect of soul-touching symmetries. That is what we do this for. And it’s beautiful. And nothing feels better.
I mean, where or who would we be if we didn’t have dance music? If we didn’t move with gravitational force to throw shapes at these sound shrines each weekend? People just don’t bond the same way over gardening and baking. And then there’s trying to explain this all this to your mother! And we wonder why the world looks at us like we’re crazy!
