Retro Disco - Field Visit (June 6, 2014)

I picked up this flyer at my daughter's nursery a few months ago advertising a charity retro disco being held at a local primary school. I mentally logged it as a potential field site:

I had not been to a parents disco before. I was curious to find out what differentiated a parents disco to other social dance events.  Holy Trinity School is in Wimbledon, a short walk from my home. As I had not yet participated in any field visit within my locale, I resolved to attend this event.

My research companion was my friend Robyn who works part-time as a DJ and is familiar with dance club environments. However a parents disco is also unknown territory for her too. The plan for the evening is to attend the disco after which Robyn will fill in a written questionnaire to feed back her thoughts on the experience.*

Robyn. My dancing buddy. 

A few days before the event, I receive group email from Liz, the event organiser. The email is very informative and instructional, containing details about what to expect for the evening. In this sense, the 'school' aspect of the disco is quite evident. It is not something that usually happens before you go out for a night of dancing:

Hi all

Thank you so much for supporting this event (the first adults' disco we have held at the school!) and I'm really looking forward to seeing you there.

Just a few points before the night.....

Venue

The event is being run in Holy Trinity School's main hall at the back of the school to keep noise down for neighbours.  Please enter via the front hall doors on Effra Road - just to the left of the main school entrance doors - it should be obvious on the night - I'll put balloons out!  

Running Order

• 8pm: Doors open (and disco gets going!) 
• I will be at the door with some welcome drinks (you have paid for your first drink in the ticket price) and to collect monies from those paying on the door.
• Food that you are bringing to share can be taken through to the main hall where there will be a table set up for food plates.  I've bought paper plates/napkins etc.
• Bar will be open from 8pm - it is a cash bar so please bring plenty with you!  There will be pimms, wine, prosecco, beer (lager), some cider and soft canned drinks to purchase.
• Tables and chairs will be set up in the hall for you to use - enough for all -  there are none reserved so first come first served on positioning!
• Please just help yourselves to food from the sharing table during the course of the evening.
• 11pm the music will stop and the bar will close as our licence is until 11pm only.
• Please leave quietly so as not to disturb our neighbours.  Don't forget to take your food plates home with you (if not disposable)
• Anyone that would like to stay and help clear up is most welcome to!!!

Stalls

Pay Bar - as mentioned there will be a cash bar selling pimms, wine, prosecco, beer (lager), some cider and soft canned drinks.  Tap water will also be available.  I have purchased some rather tasteful (?!) neon plastic wine glasses which you can purchase for a small contribution say 50p each and take home with you if you would prefer these to plastic tumblers!  If anyone would like me to stock anything else just let me know - there is still time!

Thank you to all who have offered to do a half hour stint at the bar - really appreciated.  

Retro sweets - Retro sweet pots will be on sale - price tbc but probably around £2 - for sale at the bar - (for yourselves or to take home to the kids!)

Silent Auction - Watch out for the tables at the side of the hall set up with silent auctions going on during the evening...If you spot something you are interested in please just sign up your bid on the paper provided for any individual item and I will contact the winners after the event. 

This was an idea which I was given and will help raise some extra funds for the charities during the night.  

So far ....I am offering up a night of babysitting (happy to do post midnight!), some kids party hire items and Arwel is parting with a very nice boxed bottle of whiskey which would make a good Xmas/Birthday present for anyone that drinks it (we don't!)

If anyone has anything that they can offer up to the silent auction - anything goes - holiday home usage, unwanted gifts, services :) ..... please do let me know - all offers gratefully received.  I'll leave out some blank pages - just fill them in and there will be the option to set a minimum bid too.

Dress Code

I know many of you are keen to dress up which is great but equally anyone that doesn't fancy it please don't feel you have to!  We can always swap wigs and rara skirts/legwarmers during the evening!!

Music/Requests

I'm going to ask DJ Sean how he wants to handle requests - he is usually very easy about this on the night but will let you know if he wants any pre-warning!

Think that covers all but if you have any questions just drop me an e-mail/call me on my mobile (below)

Looking forward to a fun night!

Kind Rgds

Liz 

As we walk to the event, Robyn and I discuss that that we have no idea what to expect. Even though it is 8.30pm on a Friday night, the streets are quiet in this residential part of Wimbledon. As we approach the school, the only sign of any after hours activity are a couple of balloons tied to the front gate of the school entrance.

 

We enter and are greeted by some dads staffing the entry. I pay for our tickets and we collect our free drinks. We make our way towards the music and chatter, entering the school hall which has been decked out in disco fashion. Laser images of 1970s style dancers are projected onto the walls and flashing coloured lights mark out a dance space by the DJ booth. About half of the people in attendance are dressed up in retro fashion including miniskirts, waistcoats, flared trousers, open collar shirts, afro wigs and vinyl boots; encompassing multiple fashion trends from the 1960s onwards. Robyn and I are in normal street clothes as are the other 50% of punters. As soon as we enter, Liz the organiser comes up to greet us. Her personal greeting surprises me and momentarily, I wonder if I should have informed her that we are present for research reasons. 

Inside the hall, trestle tables covered with plates of food line one wall. A makeshift bar is set up along the back wall and three long rows of trestle tables and chairs are set up in the middle of the hall for seating. On the far outer wall, a silent auction table is set up with goods and services displayed for bidding. Robyn and I sit down towards the back of the hall and take in our surroundings. Robyn comments that she feels very comfortable in the environment even though she has no connection to the other people in the room, nor the school. We do a head count and estimate 35 people in attendance; 10 of which are male. The average age group looks around late 30s to early 40s. Apart from myself and Robyn who is of mixed Oriental and Caucasian heritage, there is one other Oriental female present. Everyone else looks to be of Caucasian Anglo-Saxon descent.   

It is about 8.45pm and people are standing in small groups chatting, perusing the food tables or sitting down with their drinks. There is no dancing happening on the dance floor. No-one has a mobile phone in their hands which after discussion, Robyn and I agree must be a generational thing. After noticing this, I decide not to document the night visually and base my documentation upon experience and recall. At about 9pm, a group of people, both male and female venture onto the dance floor and start dancing in a circle. 

Robyn and I take this in whilst discussing the atmosphere of the event which to us feels relaxed and non-threatening. Even though there are not enough people at the event to feel anonymous, we do not feel conspicuous even though we are not a part of the school community and do not know anyone else in the room. I think this sense of ease came about as there was no sense of watchfulness amongst the punters; no 'meat market' feeling of being assessed by others and no drunk or aggressive behaviour. Also being in a school hall was a constant reminder to all of us, perhaps most significantly the parents present, that the event was in aid of the school. Also that their behaviour had to be kept in check as they would all see each other again.  

 

After sitting down for about 30 minutes, we hear the beginning beats of Billie Jean by Michael Jackson. I suggest we get up and dance, my exact words being, 'If we don't get up now, we never will.' By this time there are about 10-12 other people on the dance floor, most of whom are female. I think I can see one man.  No-one is dancing especially vigorously; most are doing a variation of the two step and moving on the spot rather than covering space. We find a space in the corner and join in similarly. 

Earlier in the evening we had witnessed the phenomena of people dancing in a circle on the dance floor. We had discussed why we think this happens, Robyn saying that she felt it was almost a tribal call and response mechanism that is innate within social dancing. And that being able to see other people's faces while dancing made people feel safer. I discuss my own feelings about dancing in a circle, which is that I don't like it as it feels that I am forced to have interaction with somebody when all I want to do when dancing socially is to do my own thing.

When Robyn and I join the dance floor, I feel that because we have had the above conversation, it affects the way we relate on the dance floor. We dance together in the same space and have moments where we check in on one another and tap into each other's rhythm but for the most part we dance our own dance and are in our own separate worlds when we dance. Robyn is comfortable dancing in this way and so it frees me up to do this as well. We dance on and on. The more I dance, the more I enjoy it and go into what I call the ' free dance zone.' 

The 'free dance zone' is a sought after, yet elusive state of being on the social dance floor where I feel totally immersed in the act of dancing to music. Movement flows unsought yet somehow feels perfectly right in the moment. There is no awkwardness, self-consciousness or even much thought at all. Whenever this happens, I feel as if I keep dancing this way, I will enter a state of transcendence. It is a highly pleasurable state of being. It is also a state of being that needs practice. The more you go out dancing, the easier it can be to access.  I did not expect to experience it during my fieldwork research and am grateful that I have. 

This feeling continues intermittently through the time we spend on the dance floor.  At other times I sit and observe the other dancers. The dance floor is more crowded now, with more people dancing than sitting. It is approximately 9.50pm and I estimate about 50- 60 people in attendance. People's dance movements are slightly bigger and more carefree than an hour ago. Many people dance with drinks in their hands.  There are two couples who especially draw my eye. One couple look in their mid-forties. The man is wearing a 80's style mustard yellow jacket and his partner is dressed in a pink tutu, head sweatband and leg warmers. They look like they are having a lot of fun, the man dancing with big, swooping gestures, his partner responding in kind. Robyn notices them too and comments, 'He is Mr Party.' Her comment rings true later when Mr Party starts up a conga line on the dance floor and nominates himself event photographer, taking random photos of people on the dance floor. Because of people like him however, a camaraderie develops between strangers on the dance floor as we have a common leader for our revelry. As there are not a lot of people in attendance, the event feels more like a private party where not everyone knows one another. 

The second couple who I watch throughout the night look in their mid forties and possibly of Mediterranean heritage. The reason I watch them is that they are dancing perfectly in sync with one another. They are both doing a loose samba step, individually and together. Their individual dance rhythms whilst dancing separately or in a couple hold are exactly the same. By this I do not mean they are dancing the same movements but that the rhythms of their movements are so attuned to one another, that when they come together for a moment of couple dancing after dancing solo, their bodies fit together in perfect rhythmic sync. The expressions on their faces indicate they are in their own world of dance bliss and enjoying the sensation of moving their bodies to music. I am captivated by how in sync they are and how much they are enjoying themselves.  

At one point of the night, I notice a lone handbag has been left on the dance floor. The image reminds me of formative years of nights out dancing with girlfriends where we would place our handbags on the ground and dance around them. I take my only photo of the night:

The Handbag

As Robyn is not feeling that well, I suggest that we leave at 10.30pm.  As we wait for her bus to arrive, we discuss the people on the dance floor we had seen, especially the two couples described earlier.

'What made them stand out for you? What made them appealing to watch?' I asked. 

'They had the ability to just to lose themselves in the moment and the movement,' she replied. 'And that,' she smiled, 'could be the core of your research.'

* Robyn's answers to the research questionnaire she filled out post event can be read below. 

            Questionnaire:                         Research Participants in Fieldwork

Name:

Robyn Stocker

Age:

34           

Location:

Streatham, London

Profession:

DJ, Project Manager & Radio Presenter

Are you trained in any style of dance? If so, what was the period of training, e.g. 12 years in jazz, one off workshop in salsa:

Ballet and contemporary for 6 years, salsa for 6 months, odd bellydancing, samba and street dance + performances.

Do you regularly partake in any kind of dance activity in your daily life? e.g. Zumba classes, clubbing and so on:

Not currently, I would like to take up dance classes again but it's a matter of timing and funding. I cycle in London and occasionally go out to events but mainly to DJ.

How did you feel prior to taking part in this dance research event? What were your expectations?

I wasn't sure what to expect! I think I expected it to be quite quiet, quite cheesy and a little dry to be honest! But also I went with an open mind and wanted a new experience.

Did you feel comfortable dancing at the event? Why? Why not?

I did! At first it was a little odd because it's not the sort of thing I would roll up to ordinarily plus I expected parents all to know each other so I thought I would feel like an outsider. But then it had a really friendly, light and non-threatening atmosphere. Quite nurturing in a way because there was food laid out, a nice cheesy and fun setup and everyone there was up for a good time.

Please feedback your thoughts about the following at the dance event you attended:

The venue:

Wimbledon School Parent's Disco

The music:

Cheese and 80's

The other people at the event:

Lui Sit + many a parent dressed in funny clothing

The clothing worn at the event:

70's/80's disco

The atmosphere:

Fun, lively and light, almost comforting

The dancing that happened at the event:

A few couples dancing in-synch, some groups of girls and some odd let-loose lairy dancers

The timing of the event (was it too early? Did it go on for too long?):

It was perfect for the crowd of parents wanting to get out for an evening but not stay out all night (8 till 11pm) and suited my timing fine as I only wanted a couple of hours of fun.

The cost:

£7

How would you describe the way you danced at the event?

I let loose, it was helpful to be in a safe environment where I didn't know anyone particularly because it allowed me to focus on enjoying the dancing and the music. I didn't feel any sense of competition or need to be any particular way. It was quite liberating to dance in an unusual space too.

Would you attend this event again? Why ? Why not?

I would in terms of the fun I had but not unless I had a good reason to, such as for a research project or as a parent myself, although I feel that would change the dynamic (knowing people there and knowing the environment).

Any other comments?

It's interesting to see how some people dance in groups and some people dance prefer to dance on their own. I felt most comfortable dancing alone in my own space and in my own world but I also think it's important once in awhile to connect with people (friends) around you.