Nightclub stickers over smartphone rule divides the dancefloor (85 points, 91 comments)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42352825
I've never understood the appeal of so-called "dance" events.
Crowds of thousands like sardines swaying-at-best to the DJ being treated as a rockstar but without the talent and entertainment as far as I can see.
Note: this isn't a rockist viewpoint; I'm a dancer who is frustrated at the lack of options to actually move about in space on a dancefloor with other dancers who are there to actually, you know, dance.
I hate the way the word has been co-opted by what appears to be a generation of drugged-out sheep who seem incapable of soulful movement.
Whereas the dance scenes I've formerly attended were heavy in drug use but the main thing people are there for is dancing.
> “Nobody was asking for the screen to be bigger. Nobody was asking for more production, more lasers. Literally, the number one complaint every year was, ‘Hey, you guys are overselling these shows, we want more room to dance.’”
A friend of mine is a professional (modern) dancer, so has as much credentials as you can, and she enjoys dancing in berlins nightlife. She finds the space for expression and creativity in her movement, in tune with the music. Of course, the is not much physical space, which is how the dance-movements evolved as they have (e.g you never spin and you feet never really leave the space they are on). But this is part of the culture, and not a problem. If you can't find it then that's your problem, but doesn't mean that other's can not freely express themselves there.
There's more dance-events. Not sure where you are, but you can usually go to a bachata night as it's quite trendy now, northern soul is also getting some revivial. There's also more disco-oriented events usually at various LGBTQ+-parties, I think especially italo-disco is a lot of fun. You can just go out and dance. Lindy Hop also has a solid community around the world.
As for dancing, dancing is for clubs. Clubs are not concert halls. You dance at a club. You watch a show at a hall. Only DJ-types who are confused about whether they are record-spinning robots or stars in a spotlight cannot tell the difference.
If I am paying $700 to see Lady Gaga you bet your ass I’m taking some pictures.
I actually find k-pop shows somewhat refreshing because there’s zero negative stigma for wanting to record pictures or video. I can easily tell that Gen Z/Alpha has no problem enjoying themselves and even dancing while recording a video.
If a phone is blocking your view the venue is designed wrong, or you have the rare concertgoer who doesn’t know how to hold their phone in a way that preserves the view for others, which is rare for the younger audiences. (I don’t go to venues with flat floors anymore. Often they weren’t even designed for concerts in the first place).
But getting lost in music, in a darkened room with some intentionally disorienting VFX; or simply none, loud electronic music in a room with many people is already quite an experience...
that's quite different from being at a festival or at a show like this, which looks more like a musical opera performance to me.
For big room EDM, was there ever a time when it was not about laser shows etc?
I mean there's nothing wrong with stage shows, pop music and lasers.
The camera both removes the person from the scene and also by recording enables the event to be captured in a format to be reviewed again. The videos are never actually intended to be watched again or shared with friends though but they are proof that the person was physically there (if not wholly present).
There was a video I recently saw about how birthday parties should be filmed. Instead of a video of just the birthday girl in front of a cake reacting to her friends singing happy birthday, she takes the camera, flips it so we don't see her anymore but we see her friends singing facing her with faces full of love.
If there are people filming on their dancefloor you're in a shitty club.
OK, so the author and a handful of people they quite (including some global superstars who obviously don't represent any kind of norm) seem to be finding themselves in shitty clubs more often than they used to. And therefore we conclude all clubs are shitty now?
Nightlife is the least heterogeneous and least globalised form of public life that exists in "the west". If someone thinks they can make sweeping statements about the state of raving writ large, I don't really take them seriously.
on both music fests, I was in flow. I've been dancing - it's a usual thing all humans naturally do when they hear rhythm that resonates with them unless they consciously resist dancing for one reason or another. though, this time, no one joined me. people just made space around me and pointed their cameras at me, which created a ton of unease and I eventually stopped. it was enough to get viral in local Telegrams, but I had no joy in that. in the moment, I wanted to shout, "duh, why aren't you all dancing? put down your goddamn cameras, you can always scroll later!"
phones, primarily due to their current addictive implementation, are such a killjoy. I hope that one day, devices like Clicks Communicator will change this.
Maybe journalism isn't totally dead yet.
it never was, nor will ever be :)
rumori•1h ago
phrotoma•1h ago
retired•1h ago
OneMorePerson•50m ago
krisoft•37m ago
If we are asking for impossible things why make it so scifi coded? I would much prefer cute bunny unicorns who suddenly grow fangs and bite people who are taking pictures. They are both equaly realistic but the bunny unicorns are nicer to think of.
collinmcnulty•15m ago
jbaiter•1h ago
GuestFAUniverse•1h ago
Has become a pest. Even inside. Even directly at or in the water. No matter what the signs say.
At least regarding that I miss the last millennium: no omnipresence of cameras. Not a bunch of entitled pseudo-influencers filming everything and everyone.
Wowfunhappy•38m ago
> More clubs have also been instituting “no phones” policies to reclaim the dance floor’s social energy. Venues including Signal, a small club that opened last year in Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg neighborhood, and recent addition Refuge, located just around the corner, cover all phone cameras with a sticker. Other larger, established venues like House of Yes and Elsewhere have also banned the use of phones inside.
zo7•27m ago