On the Boogie Club

We remember when boogieing was an art. We remember kids too cool to be hip abandoning themselves in an orgiastic fury. We had never seen such unique public displays of climax and release. But what’s happened? As avid fans we just wanted to call attention too some of the changes we’ve noticed and are vaguely distressed about. It may seem like the boogie club is just a collection of random kids wiling out and dancing strangely. Not so. The boogie club used to have a very clear movement vocabulary, musicality, unified group energy, consistent approach to audience interactions and general performance structure that we must admit has been lacking lately. Perhaps this is an intentional shift in dance style. Yet we fear that the original boogie dance techniques are being diluted. Where are you, Atari screen? Where are you, basketball hoop? What happened to the hysterics, the originality, the climax and release that made us so ‘excited’ to come to lunch everyday with the hopes of seeing the boogie club in action?

The boogieing that that makes you want to be a better person happens when the kids rock out, full energy, with complete disregard for rhythm, musicality or aesthetics. Boogiers used to be completely engaged in performance, absorbed in the name of rocking their bodies to exhaustion, utterly oblivious to the world at large. They didn’t give a fuck how they looked, which is why they looked spectacular.

Boogie clubbers used to go out there and have pseudo-religious fits of ecstasy. The dance space was a mystical area unto itself. The fourth wall wasn’t broken. The motion was nonstop yet full of subtlety in movement quality and dynamic changes. You could go check your mail, pee, or get a burrito but whenever you looked at the dance space you knew you could expect the comfort of continuous, unadulterated, committed performance.

Since when is hippie-jam-band-Phish-concert-dancing considered boogieing? Its not that exciting to see people sort of half dancing but mostly looking at each other, copying each others moves, and apologetically smiling at the people watching. There is no walking in boogieing. No distracting grinding of passersby. And there is especially no stopping in boogieing. We watched a boogie today. Phenom had some amazing air guitar, and a boogielicious outfit, and Bess really held it down for the rest of them, but since when does the boogie club dance to the music? Boogie Club, we miss your original flair and we urge you to aim toward recapturing your unique aesthetic – the kind that gets us hot and bothered.