Anonymity in the Club

by Isabella Castelo

If you know anything about Europe, you know the nightlife is amazing. So, naturally, I’ve been going to a lot of clubs. The music is amazing, the lights are amazing, the dancing is amazing, but what I love the most is the anonymity of it all.

They put stickers over your cameras and you wear sunglasses in an essentially pitch-black room. The idea that no one can tell who you are is the whole point. These clubs center around the fact that you can dance until 6 am and then live your life as if it never happened. This anonymity allows everyone to completely let go of any kind of social pressure and act a fool without getting a second glance. At home going out is a good time, but here it feels like more than that; it’s a release.

Once you step inside there is no concept of time or the other people around you. To me, when you go into clubs like this, you shed the idea of yourself as an individual and become just another member of this huge group. You all dance together—but separately at the same time—moving back and forth to the same beat. This togetherness is what intrigued me the other night.

I looked up, watching the beaming lights sporadically light up peoples’ faces, and realized that despite never knowing who any of these people were I felt connected to them in a way you can only experience in a club. You get to see them as an individual only for a moment, and in this moment the look on their face is always pure ecstasy. Even if they’re not physically smiling or looking particularly joyful there is this special kind of emotion that you feel when you’re dancing without a care in the world. It shows on your face and in the way you move, and observing this in the people around you infects you with this same bliss.

I’ve fallen in love with this feeling, but can’t help but wonder if that is how I would feel all the time if I stopped caring so much about how others perceived me. I am constantly plagued with what other people might find annoying, unfunny, or embarrassing. I wish that I could find a way to let go of these thoughts even when people could see me and my face wasn’t half covered by huge, dark glasses. I wish the lights didn’t have to be off in order for me to allow myself to be authentically me.

Even in the moments when a random light beam flashes in my face for a slip second, I ground myself and become aware of how my body is perceived. I find some comfort in knowing that everyone around me feels the same as I do when the lights come on and the music stops. I mean, anonymous clubs wouldn’t be a thing if they didn’t, so I’ll hold on to that.

Did I just ruin clubbing by making it into something it’s not? Maybe, but that’s not gonna stop me from getting caught smiling at some stranger in the dark because I’m so thrilled they’re having so much fun.

Till next time!

Love,

Isabella

Photograph: Pinterest

Anonymity in the Club