My first dance party

Maarten de Jong
Nov 4 · 3 min read
Picture of me before the party, posing for the picture.
Picture of me before the party, posing for the picture.
Me posing before I entered the party

A while ago I went to a party at Amsterdam Dance Event with a friend. I wanted to go because two artists I like were going to play there, but also because I’d never gone partying before (and I’m 20!). I never party because of the circles I’m in. We don’t drink, and as a result don’t dance. But I wanted to explore, so I went. It was an enlightening and fun night.

I wasn’t gonna drink because I was driving, but I was fine with that. My initial plan was just to go there and enjoy the music and for the first hour or so, that’s exactly what we did. I had never unironically danced before, so it was difficult to start. If I were alone, it wouldn’t have been a problem at all. When I’m alone, or alone in a crowd, I don’t feel any social constraints. When I’m with people I know, I feel like I have to act according to the expectations those people have of me (or they’ll be surprised and think I’m putting up an act). This is why I act differently around my parents than when I’m with my friends, and it’s why I enjoy being alone. Being alone to me means that I can one hundred percent be myself. No baggage.

In the first one or two hours I also felt like my friend was waiting for me to ‘make the first move’ in the sense that I had to be the one to break this wall of social expectation we had of eachother. It took me a while, but I managed to start dancing by imagining I was alone. Just me and the crowd. This helped. The one glass of beer I had helped as well. I can’t hold my alcohol at all. We got in at around 12pm. At about 2am both me and the crowd were going completely wild. At 3 or 4am I peaked. After that the crowd got tired. I didn’t get tired at all until after I left. Late into the night I felt like I was trying to keep the energy going. I was nudging at people to dance with me. It didn’t work and my energy died with it.

Somewhere in the night, I started thinking. It’s something that had bothered me for a long time and was one of the reasons why I could never dance until this night. Why do we dance? Why do we celebrate like this? Part of me wanted to have a sitdown with a stranger at the party and ask them. It was just an ordinary thursday night. Nobody in the room had reason to dance other than there being loud music. Dancing didn’t make the music more enjoyable for me. In fact, it made me pay less attention to it despite having paid to see the artists. In hindsight, the answer is that I shouldn’t ask these questions. Just like many other questions like “why are we here” and “what is my purpose”, looking for the answer is pointless and will only make you upset. It’s the limit of human pondering that you shouldn’t cross. We were dancing because dancing and music is fun. There is no underlying purpose or rationale.

I went home with a broadened experience, a more simple and joyful attitude, and looser hips. I’d say it was worth the price. Thanks for reading.

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