Breaking Series Part 3 – Raving USA

The good old days

Five part series describing the evolution of breakdancing through fiction stories – Breaking Series Part 3

My head was pounding, my ears ringing and I was miserable. I lie in bed at 2pm, trying like hell to get some sleep, but I just could not fall asleep. I had to work at 6pm. Work tonight was going to be fun, that was for sure. Just like last night and the night before that. “I really need to take a night off” I thought to myself.”

The night before, I worked until 7pm at the video store where I was a manager. The store was the kind of place where you could rent out movies and video games and get the hot new releases. It was a pretty busy place, especially on a Friday night.

My friends and I were going to see DJ Dan in Springfield, MA after I got out of work. He was spinning at an all night party called a rave. Raves had replaced the club scene for a lot of people. Clubs closed at 2/3am. A rave would keep going until the sun came up.

ECSTASY

There was this new drug out called Ecstasy. They were these little pills that came in different strengths, shapes and sizes with little stamps on them. You ate one of those and you were ready to go dance for the night. Around 6pm, I ate mine. At 7pm, I closed the store and changed into my crop top and UFO pants, grabbed my binky and vicks inhaler and I was ready to go.

The drive was so long, but it was totally worth it. DJ Dan was amazing and I had a great time. The rave was in a huge warehouse and there were tons of people there. They had strobe lights and black lights and other cool things to look at. Everyone was dancing and laughing and having a good time.

The kids that break danced were amazing to watch. Breakdancing to techno was a little different than the traditional breakdancing that people were used to seeing. There were new moves, like popping and locking but evolved to be much faster and harder.

We left the rave around 7am. In the day light we all looked ravaged and strung out. Exhausted. You would think that I would have passed out when I got home around 10am, but that’s the wonder of Ecstasy, it keeps going even when you’re ready to stop. So, I went to work at 6pm, on no sleep. Again, thinking to myself, “I really need to take a night off!”

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