Most of us hang up our dancing shoes at 31. But as a growing volume of research spotlights the healing power of dancing, WH makes the case for cutting some shapes with wellness in mind. Cue the music…
Laser beams thread through the inky sky and Anu swings her arms skywards. It’s that time of year when the summer’s last embers welcome in autumn, and the air, still a little warm, kisses her skin through the lacy top tucked into her white jeans. She’s in a vast car park that, today, doubles up as a stripped-down party space. On the decks is the legendary DJ Carl Cox. The opening piano notes from Candi Staton’s You Got The Love fill the air, and butterflies take flight in her belly.
While it might sound like your typical rave tableau, this event has one key difference. Most of the 3,000-strong crowd here are in their forties or fifties. And Anu, too, is no thrill-seeking student; nor a 25-year-old on a large one. Rather, she’s a 42-year-old trauma specialist and a mum-of-one from Coventry – and raving is as integral to her identity as what she does for work and where she lives.
Until recently, she’s been in the minority; most people depart the dance floor at 31, according to a 2017 survey. And yet, things appear to be shifting. Back in May, the DJ Annie Mac launched a new club night, of which much is reassuringly routine: a darkened room, the BBC Radio 1 titan spinning up front; roars of recognition when the crowd clocks a freshly dropped banger. But rather than waiting to see your favourite selector at 2am, before rolling home around dawn, this event begins at 7pm. In a statement about the Before Midnight event, Mac explained that she’d created the night for those ‘who adore the clubbing experience’ but ‘need to be sharp and useful at the weekends’. The night was so popular that the next event is waiting-list only.
As the crowd at Mac’s night can attest, going dancing is fun. And yet, hedonism is the least of it. As research continues to underscore the wellbeing-supporting benefits of movement, connection and community – all of which are tied up in dance music culture – is there a health case for raving your way into midlife and beyond?
Dance yourself clean
One person who’d answer with an emphatic ‘yes’ is Peter Lovatt, psychologist, former pro dancer and author of The Dance Cure: The Surprising Secret To Being Smarter, Stronger, Happier. He points to the correlation between dance and the endogenous opioid system. ‘It’s a network that triggers rushes of feel-good chemicals, which are at the root of your feelings of elation, such as the opiate beta-endorphin, your body’s natural painkiller.’ One fuel that powers this joy-inducing machine? Dancing. ‘Researchers from Oxford University fou
