Dance Floor Etiquette • The NZ Spirit Festival Community Speaks
Festival Season officially kicked off in early November with Spring Festival in Pukehina, and the dance floor was WILD, with epic sets from DJ Blase, DJ Jimmy Fresh and DJ Kauri, and all kinds of dance floor etiquette enacted and transgressed.
When I published an article after that event, Shenanigans on the Dance Floor • A Tale of Boundaries Expressed and Transgressed, it ignited a huge conversation on my Facebook page about etiquette on dance floors.
That conversation got me thinking — why not crowd-source an article on dance floor etiquette so that we feel more connected and aligned before hitting the Festival dance floors this summer?
This is that article — thank you to the hundreds of people who commented and shared!
First up — there was definitely some kickback about the idea of dance floor etiquette, although people got etiquette confused with ‘rules’.
There were a bunch of comments on the NZ Spirit Post that said things like ‘There are no rules on a dance floor’ and ‘No rules, just let it flow’. But I wasn’t talking about rules — which need to be enforced and have consequences when they’re broken. I was talking about etiquette — good manners and polite behaviour.
Although even that definition sounds pretty damn stuffy and uptight — as Giselle said ‘Are we going back to the 1920s?’
And Susie has a great point too with her comment:
‘I’ve been on some raucous dance floors and concerts and had a delicious time. Probably wouldn’t like to think my kids would be there… But I’m sure they have too. And loving every minute. It’s like a rite of passage. Get wild, go crazy!! Yes shit happens…. But rather that than super safe!! I think the etiquette thing might be part of this overly precious time we’re living in. Makes me think about the tea dances they had long long ago… Where women had a dance card and allowed men to put their names on it. We’re trying to make everything so ‘safe’ now. And yeah it’s a crazier world out there now… But I’m not sure etiquette is going to change anything.’
Susie
No, we’re not going back to the 1920s, or tea dances with dance cards. My intention is to look at how…