“Dance is a way to find yourself and lose yourself, all at the same time” reads the first low quality JPEG I found when I googled ‘quotes about dancing’.
But it’s true.
No matter how unco you are, having a good solid boog to your favourite song can lift your spirits like nothing else.
see u can’t even look at this without feeling happy
Two Melburnians who live and die by this principle are Alice Glenn and Heidi Barrett, creators of the ubiquitous ‘No Lights, No Lycra‘ movement which, since launching in 2009, has spawned over 75 locations around the globe.
For the uninitiated, the premise of NLNL is all in the name. Every week, people all around the world gather in dance halls, churches and scout halls, turn down the lights and spend an hour burning holes in the floor like nobody’s watching. It’s a place for people to come and dance freely in a friendly, non-threatening, drug and alcohol free atmosphere. There aren’t any teachers, or complicated dance moves; just a space for everyone and anyone to unleash their Travolta free of judgement.
‘No Lycra’ is a nod to the fact that you’re welcome to wear whatever the heck you want; the perfect antidote to our activewear-obsessed culture.
This ‘dance community’ is all about offering folk the chance to get active on their own terms, and making dance accessible for everyone. The team have now taken that premise a step further by launching a brand spanking new app called ‘Dance Break‘.
Dance Break is a free app designed to encourage people all round the world to stop what their doing and, in the words of Pharrell, lose themselves to dance. The app works by overriding their phone (scary, yes, but probs necessary) with a banger at an unexpected time. You could be on the train, in a test, or on the toilet when the song pops off – it’s totally uncontrollable.
Once the track ends, you’ll get a little map which shows how many others danced to that song. Cooooooooooool.
Glenn & Barrett secured a grant of $110,000 from the government through VicHealth, which covered the development and marketing of the app. It’s dang nice to know the govt is backing innovative, passionate folk who wanna see more activity in the world, innit?
Source: The Age.
Photo: No Lights, No Lycra.
