Punk "Slam" Dancing.

[Spitfire]

When the punk rock craze was big some years back I understand people in clubs featuring punk bands would dance by intentionally slamming into each other. Since I never went into any of these venues I've never seen it done, but has anyone ever engaged in "slam" dancing?

Seems like a good way to get a into fight. :o

[Tasek]

Pretty much the same thing I believe, albeit at hard rock events (for the record, i'm not a hardrocker, got dragged along once or twice by hardrockers), i've been in a 'mosh pit'. Trick is not to fight it but go along with the flow, being tightly packed together you become part of the group, everybody moving in an very adhoc coordination.
Although it seems violent it absolutely isn't (although inevitably you'll end up with a few bruises), it's just another way of 'dancing' or expressing the music. Couple hundred of years from now such things will probably appear on documentaries called 'Musical rituals of post-industrial Neo-urban youths' or something like that.

Not something I'll be doing again, not my style, but was fun from a 'got to try it at least once' point of view.

P.S. apologies to all punkers/hardrockers if the analogy is flawed.

[pygmalion]

Hmm. I've only seen video clips, and it doesn't look violent. Controlled chaos, perhaps, but no violence, that I could see.

[HothouseSalsero]

I did it on a few occasions, at shows by some local hard-core punk bands with fan-bases that weren't especially violent. It was good practice for dancing salsa on really crowded dance-floors with lots of beginners. For most, if not all, of the people at the shows I was attending, the idea wasn't really to hurt anybody, though I guess the riskiness was part of the thrill. More chaotic than violent is a good description. If you get knocked down, people are supposed to pick you back up. I think it's largely an adrenalin rush sort of thing.

Tasek's comment: "Trick is not to fight it but go along with the flow" is absolutely right.

I wouldn't do it now because I wear designer glasses and wouldn't want any injuries that would keep me from other types of dancing (although I haven't been to a punk show, or even a rock show, since I saw Sleater-Kinney about five or six years ago).

[HothouseSalsero]

But I do think that in some cases it could become more violent. It would depend on the crowd. I didn't see this in person, but based on some of what I've seen on film along with hearsay, it's probably true.

[HepcatBob]

Oh, I used to LOVE to slam dance!!! It was so great for releasing pent up frustrations. Most of the time, it looked a lot more violent than it really was. The only times I ever saw any trouble was when some a-hole jumped into the fray but didn't really know what was going on. The only 'injury' I ever suffered was a fat lip and that was definitely an accident.

I used to 'pogo' a lot, too.

[Spitfire]

And of couse from time to time we experience a little of this by accident with our dancing; on crowded floors where people are not minding floor craft. :wink: