Dancing in the Dark.

{ Dance fever by retrospace }

7:45pm, on a Thursday night. The Old Courthouse, Wollongong. 20 or 30 people sidle in as the sun goes down. Everyone is dressed for comfort, barefoot and easy in loose shirts and pants, toting bottles of water. 

"Is this your first time?" 

The "rules", if they can even be called that, are simple. When the lights are turned off and the music starts, dance as though no-one is watching. Dance the way you dance, no matter how terribly, when you dance on your own in the kitchen, spinning a teatowel and relishing the total lack of self-consciousness.

Because that's the beauty of "No Lights, No Lycra"- no one is watching.

And that is what makes these hour-long dance jams so incredibly liberating. 

That, as well as the refreshing lack of alcohol-fuelled sleaziness and general exhibitionism of night club dance floors.

Originally created by two Melbournites who just wanted somewhere to dance where "no one gave a damn how you looked", NLNL is popping up in small towns and big cities everywhere. And I'm so glad it has come to Wollongong. Because there's nothing better than forgetting yourself (or at least forgetting your ego) for an hour, dancing wildly, badly and erratically to everything from Play That Funky Music to slinky reggae to Over and Over by Hot Chip with 20 or so strangers who are also letting loose. Oh, and it's good exercise too.

My aunty Kik and I have made a pact to go to NLNL even when (especially when!) one of us has had a crap day. Because it's hard to imagine a better way to forget your worries than this.

I'm hooked.

{check out No Lights No Lycra here, and sign up to the Wollongong page here}