My other hobby is racing small sailboats, an activity where I regularly get my butt kicked by septuagenarians. From an athletic perspective, that’s like going clubbing except that the dance floor is moving more than the dancers, you get 50 gallons of water thrown at you every minute or so, and the drinks are usually gay bar strong. Also, one wrong move and you could lose a finger or your head.
I picked up polyphasic sleep in my mid '30s when I was managing globe-spanning engineering teams. Regardless of your age, an early afternoon nap is an incredible tool for powering up.
I’ll probably stick to dancing in my home-office-studio for now, as COVID would make it difficult for me to become one of those butt-kicking septuagenarians one day.
I still go to festivals, last time i got asked where my child is dancing, i said i am the child. To be fair it was pre covid, last time, but i plan to go this summer again. I wish there was a day venue open throughout sundays which is friendly to old people serving chai tea and warehouse techno/progressive.
Want to second the wisdom of the early morning slot - watching the sunrise raging to techno fresh off a good’s night sleep and nutritious breakfast is a pretty marvelous time.
Parties with good sound and good music, some comfy places to sit for a bit, and where the headliner ends at midnight sound like a blast. But, as a raver approaching age 42, I personally raise my eyebrow at some of these overly crafted multi-paragraph sociopolitical manifestos for events.
I get it that we’re trying to eschew the sexual politics of “the club”, but you can’t get too authoritarian in the pursuit of anarchy and radical inclusion. Sometimes these things take time to whittle into shape through careful iterative curation of space, sound, and people.
People dress crazy to stand out at clubs so being a bit older than the average party goer could be an advantage in that respect. All of the truly cool younger people at a venue would likely think it’s cool that someone 50+ is there at least I know I would of when I was in my 20s. Think of it as a way to more easily identify the posers from the true heads.
You don’t stop dancing because you grow old, You grow old because You stop dancing!
I’m 47 and still out dancing at least once a month. I Love Daytime Festivals, it’s a great Option to dance in Daylight. If I’m going out at night, I usually take an afternoon nap and drink Red Bull only in the Club. That allows me to go until they close the doors.
Back when my buddies and I were 20, we had this running joke about “the 40 year old at the rave” who still thought it was the 80s–awkwardly rocking denim vests. These same friends all got respectable jobs, now making 6 figures, and I ended up “the 40 year old at the rave”. I enjoy that the underlying narrative of my life has involved the underground techno and house scene this whole time. I like the continuity.
Thanks for so many great replies. Kudos to all the heads that never stopped dancing, I salute you! When I was 21 I thought that would be me for sure. At the risk of over sharing:
I stopped dancing at 24, all at once. My mum died of cancer, I came home to Leeds to look after my dad, I met my wife, we had kids, zoom zoom zooom I’m 48 and thinking…what the fuck happened? I miss dancing.
Never stopped dancing, but did give up on trying to move my body around ways that it’s not designed for, knees, balance, and a lifetime of weaker joints alike. I love watching ballroom events (vogueing-oriented) but lol at my old ass trying to drop low or like… dutty wine these days.
Plaid are awesome. Have fun!
