EVERYBODY loves to dance. Fact.
Whether you’ve got two left feet or can freestyle your way from Monday through ‘til Sunday, it’s a universal truth. Some save the pleasure for the privacy of their own homes, while others happily shake what they’ve got whenever and wherever the feeling takes them. Whatever your style, dancing feels great, looks great and is generally, great.
The idea is simple - wait until lunchtime, leave your place of work, turn up at the designated venue and dance.
That’s exactly the attitude fourteen Swedish workers had back in 2010 when they turned what is usually one of the dullest hours of the day - their lunch hour - into the highlight by dancing their way around a car park. Yes, a car park.
Thus began the spread of the global dance phenomenon that is Lunch Beat.
The idea is simple - wait until lunchtime, leave your place of work, turn up at the designated venue and dance.
From humble beginnings to a mention on Oprah Winfrey’s blog, this lunchtime dance craze shows no signs of burning out and much to my delight and dozens of others, it’s rocked its way into Manchester.
The Black Dog Ballroom played host to the UK launch of Lunch Beat and excitement was in the air as dinner dancers made their way to the venue. This was to be no ordinary Lunch Beat as organisers from eighteen cities and 22 venues across Europe had worked together to create a simultaneous dance floor across the world in real time with events from each location being digitally streamed and open for anyone to watch. This truly was Lunch Beat gone viral.
In exchange for a healthy packed lunch and an endless supply of water each participant is expected to abide by The Lunch Beat Manifesto:
1. If it’s your first lunch at Lunch Beat, you have to dance.
2. If it’s your second, third, fourth time at Lunch Beat, you have to dance.
3. If you are getting too tired to actually dance at Lunch Beat, please have your lunch some other place.
4. You don’t talk about your job at Lunch Beat.
5. At Lunch Beat everyone present is your dance partner.
Lunch Beat is a non-profit organisation/community and for £8 we were treated to a scrumptious lunch of fries, salad and assorted wraps and 60 minutes of non-stop music courtesy of DJ Marvin Speakman.
Surprisingly there’s no pressure to dance. You just want to.
Being surrounded by sober people letting their hair down makes you want to follow suit and smiles spread across the dance floor like wildfire. Occasionally a person would stop, look around the room with an odd look of concern having found themselves essentially raving at midday, before snapping out of it and letting the waves of pleasure sweep them away from conventionality and back into the world of Lunch Beat - a place where no-one cares how you look as long as you’re having a good time and moving your feet.
If you missed out this time make damn sure you’re at the next one. We’ll see you there.
You can follow Lunch Beat on Twitter @lunchbeat or join the Facebook group here.
