Dance Floor Wars - Bitchy Girls Be Pushing

actual picture from last night, before it got crowded...
and before I figured out why my camera was blurry.

So I'm missing yet another field hockey game because my body is failing me.

I had strep throat and a cold, and now I have a sprained ankle.  

Technically they probably are all my fault because I'm not 18, or even 24, any more and I'm not willing to take up knitting and going to bed at 9pm just yet.  

My latest body failings have come from many fun and late nights, overall just getting run down, changes in temperature/weather and dance floor wars...all my fault, per se, but I'm still allowed to be pissed.

E, what do you mean dance floor wars?

Well I'm pretty sure you've all been in this situation when you've been anywhere crowded where music and moving are included (ie, concerts, dancing at bars, etc).  

A crowded bar where you want to dance is like real estate: location, location, location.

You want to be able to see the live band and sing to them and know they see you, or you want to be far from the smelly bathroom, or you want to be facing a group of guys that are diagonally across from where you are, or you're avoiding another group of guys that are over there, or you just want to keep more than 2 inches between you and the person you're next to who is your friend who is also rocking out.

So even with all these things in mind, typically you make it work.

Last night I was out for one of my best friend's pre-bachelorette, bachelorette night.  We went out in the city so that people who won't be able to make it to Vegas this upcoming weekend, could come.  (Post to come about how freaking excited I am to finally lose my Vegas Virginity, first time to sin city!).

So, last night started like any night.

-You get your drink (a bottle of Magners is all I had, sober driver thank you).

-Head towards the music (live cover band was playing, good mix of music).

-Start to dance (circle/oval of girls up by the band, getting down, some people coming up to the bride and congratulating her).

-Night goes on, bar gets more packed, you get progressively more buzzed and more sweaty.

-Drunk stupid girls arrive, you know the type (there happened to be lots of them).

-The available space in the bar decreases, we sacrifice some of our space to accommodate (but damnit we were here for a while, we're not moving completely).

Then, which is also typical I've realized as I came up to 25 years old and passed it by, that the pushing becomes unbearably frustrating.

WHY would someone ever need to lean their full body weight into me while dancing and moving?  WHY?  A bump bump here and a bump bump there? I don't mind that, but literally when you are pushing someone, it's just beyond uncalled for.  

You don't deserve to stand where I am any more than I do.  

First come first served, bitches. 

blurry bride is good for
anonymity and for
blog post decorations.

(Unless, of course, I really want your spot, but I'd be more clever I wouldn't be leaning on your sweaty ass.)

So, the pushing began from both sides of the oval we formed...To be fair we had a prime spot, and there were 8 of us, so we were a big group.  We clearly were having a bachelorette night and that takes priority over just your lame/regular Saturday night.  

So on one side there were 2 of the girls in our party really trying to keep the group on that side at bay, and protect the spot, as well as me and this other girl guarding the other side.

It got to the point where I was pretty sure a fight was going to start on the other side of the circle and I was not willing to get into a brawl over where we were dancing.  I've seen this happen, more pushing, more yelling, smacking and then someone is picked up by a bouncer and brought outside and then drama ensues or it ends the night.

I'm glad that it didn't get to that point. I mean I knew the girls we were with were fine, but who knows who the girls were that were pushing them were...they could be unhinged and freak out and hurt someone.

This was the look I was kind of going for.

Keep in mind I was sober, I had a drink earlier (and a coffee) and then one drink at the bar, and this might have made me less patient, or more, hard to know.  Also, just an FYI, I swear I'm a decent dancer when I'm not trying to scare people off.

There were three young girls behind me.  They clearly wanted to be dancing where we were and weren't just drunk and clumsily bumping into me.  That would have been annoying but fine.  We are talking fully leaning back on me.  Several times I tried to move out of the way hoping the girl would fall and give it up, but she was leaning on me with so much of her weight that I couldn't move quickly enough.

So I had to think about what else I could do that wasn't violent, in order to get the point across that saying "Stop leaning on me, we're not moving" didn't. 

Fortunately, an opportunity arose.  They sent one of their guy friends to start dancing up on me.  So I deftly turned around.

I danced on him in a bit of an exaggerated way, I mean if I hadn't followed it up with then moving to the three girls and dancing up on them and shimmying in their faces, I might have been able to pass it off as real dancing.  

It was then abundantly clear that I was angrily and obnoxiously dancing on them.  Like, oh yah? you're going to practically LAY on me...well I'm going to shake these in your face.  I probably made a smirk of a face too because I'm not very able to hide how I feel when I'm angry.  

Needless to say they were kind of freaked, or I'd like to think they thought I was someone with a screw loose and didn't want to push up on me again.  

Either way they backed away.  They tried to infiltrate another part of the oval an hour or so later but we managed to bring in some other groups of people to dance with us, we were too large of a force to be reckoned with.

So why am I really bringing this up?  Because when I was spastically dancing or flailing my limbs around at these rude bitches I managed to twist my ankle, and I'm mad I'm missing field hockey.  

I obviously didn't skip a beat because I was making a point, but let's just say it really hurts now and it will likely hurt for a few more days...

Plus it's just a shitty way to behave (their behavior, mainly, obviously)...we're all adults in theory here (in a bar), right?

Why are dance floor wars even an issue, why can't people just back off and stop with the damn pushing?  Just dance where you are and let the people around you do the same.

My fear is that the fact that I even have an issue with this is because I'm outgrowing (AKA aging out of) my dancing days.

Am I just getting old and I shouldn't be out dancing in bars anymore?  If one can't tolerate the pushing is that your cue to leave?

...and if it's been snowing, and I plan on dancing, why am I surprised when I twist my ankle in black high wedged boots when I'm trying to fight dance wars?

Those last couple questions are rhetorical.  I'm not sure I want to know the answer to these, quite yet.

Anyway, it was a fun night despite the dance war hiccups with great friends and that ultimately is all that matters!

Happy dancing to y'all, and speedy healing to my lame ankle.

Until next time,

E