Dance Floor Etiquette 101
I have been going to see live music regularly since I first entered adulthood. For many years, I was a genre-bending attendant of punk shows held in basements, warehouses, and (sometimes) legal venues. Punk music and its vibe is characterized by compartmentalized aggression, regardless of microgenre. But even when it came to moshing, head-banging, and the circle pit, there was a quiet code of conduct. Hardcore shows were probably the most violent. People in the pit kicked, swung, and slammed into each other as hard as they could. Tacitly, If you didn’t want to get slammed into, you stayed far away from people who were moshing and away from the inner circle that contained “the pit.”