Dancing in the rain

On Wednesday the call went out: We need dancers!

One of GapFiller's many projects, the Dance-o-mat, was about to be filmed as part of a project by/for Gehl Architects. Gehl have been involved in our central city rebuild plan, and are helping to make people-friendly cities around the world. Our little Dance-o-mat was to be featured as part of... well, to be honest, I'm not exactly sure what the topic/story of this film is, but it was a good excuse to get off my arse and check out the Dance-o-mat. Especially when they said there'd be free champagne ;)

So, as the clouds gathered and the night cooled down, I headed into the empty lots of the inner city to boogie down with a bunch of other random people.

There were even people from an actual dance group, spinning & twirling their way around the dancefloor. It was great to watch them strut their stuff! A big thanks to the guy who was brave enough to take me for a spin round the floor... after a couple of songs of non-stop spins & twirls I was exhausted and happy to retreat back to my low-effort solo grooving.

The Dance-o-mat concept is pretty simple - just plug in your music device (phone/mp3 player), drop in your $2 coin, and bust out the dance moves. There are step-by-step instructions on the side of the washing machine (pictured above), so load some tunes, grab some friends and go for it!

I had a lot more fun than I thought I would. Even though the drizzle became more persistent throughout the evening, the dancers kept on going, the camera kept on filming, and the smiles were never absent. I loved the looks on the faces of people walking by... the bemusement, the shaking of heads as they declined to join in, and the odd sly shuffle as they busted out some moves of their own on the footpath.

Dance-o-mat is a little spot of brightness on an empty lot in this broken city of ours, and I'm glad that it's going to be seen by a wider audience eventually. I hope that whenever that film is finished, our little bit of madly random dancing brings smiles to the faces of those watching. Sometimes you just have to let it all hang out & wave your hands in the air like you just don't care.

You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,

Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.

                                                - William W. Purkey