How To be a Raver: The Conversationalists

Back in 2016, I had a JUngLEkalender conversation with fellow junglist Sofus about our first many years at raves. And how we always always always had to be the last person standing on the dancefloor. How important that was.

This is a bit of the conversation:

Sofus: “Now, it’s a lot easier for me to leave a party or a rave when I feel tired. But back then, I stayed ’til the last drop of blood – every time . It wasn’t exactly like doing sports, but it was something like it, and you felt super cool and kind of like a cyborg and definitely very future-like!”

“I know exactly what you mean!”
Sofus: “Sometimes I had these inner struggles on the dancefloor where I was really tired and had to sit down for a bit, but I always got up again. I had to stay on the dancefloor until the very end. […]There’s something euphoric about it, the fact that the body can just keep going. It’s a meditative quality, almost shamanistic. All of us doing this tribal dance together. A collective consciousness. You are actually doing it for the community. You don’t just go home, you stay and dance until the end.”

“Exactly!”
“And afterwards you feel really proud and sore in all your muscles for days and days afterwards.”

Obviously, when you do important work for the community on the dancefloor, talking to people has to wait.

(That’s what afterparties are for. We talk about this as well. You can read the interview here: Jungle Confessions: I had to stay on the dancefloor until the very end.

Buuuuuut sometimes all your shamanistic movements bring GREAT insights into your brain that you just HAVE to communicate with words to your fellow raver next to you! Immediately!

These snapshots are dedicated to those moments.

Intermezzo by Dancing Sofus:
“When you’re at a rave with a lot of people you don’t make a lot of conversation – you use your physical body to express your feelings and the sounds in the music. We don’t use our language but the bodies and the rhythm and pulse of the music instead. And you start to recognize eachother when you’ve experienced a thing like that together. You feel connected. There’s a poetry of the body – a compassion and inner knowledge that we’re all in tune with each other. When you get home from the raves, you feel that there has been a bond, that we turned into a tribe. That’s why afterparties are so popular for ravers. It’s hard to let go of that bond. And all the things you didn’t get to say while dancing… You get to say all that at the afterparties.”

Do you want more to talk about? Jump into 5 problems only ravers know about
If you prefer less talk and more action, jump to How to be a Junglist: Body Language.

DID YOU MISS A DAY OF JUngLEkalenderen? Go here:

December 1st: Ravers are the Experts: Slowing Down in Fast Lives
December 2nd: How to be a Raver: The Sunglasses Special
December 3rd: Blasts from the Past: Birthday Bash Edition
December 4th: The 7 best things about being a raver
December 5th: How to be a Raver: Flags and Balloons
December 6th: Jungle Feelings: Stuff that Glows in the Dark (remix)
December 7th: Ravers Are the Experts: Dancefloors Everywhere
December 8th: How to be a Raver: The Mad Hatters
December 9th: Ravers are the Experts: Party Animals
December 10th: How to be a Raver: Food of the Gods
December 11th: Jungle Feelings: The Weird Faces Special – Extended Mix 
December 12th: The Jungle Diaries: the Meaning of Life
December 13th: Blasts from the Past: The Babyface Special – Extended Mix
December 14th: How to be a Junglist: The T-shirt Special – Extended Remix
December 15th: How to be a Raver: Hands in the Air
December 16th: Ravers are the Experts: Our Natural Habitats
December 17th: How to be a Raver: Nectar of the Gods
December 18th: How to be a Raver: The Power of the Hands
December 19th: Ravers are the Experts: We Love Machines
December 20th: How to be a Raver: The Sunglasses Special – part II
December 21st: Blasts from the Past: The Well Dressed Raver

Find all seasons of the calendar here: JUngLEkalenderen.