The place is usually kept dark so that colored beams of light, strobe lights, laser lights, and smoke give it its festive atmosphere.
The crowds are mostly young folks between 18 and 25, but really there is no upper age limit. Retired folks (who want to stay young) have frequently been to these, and they find themselves quite welcome!
Because the people in the crowd are so different and unique, so are the conversations. They range from serious to completely silly and nonsensical. And generally everyone feels very welcome to participate.
Since raves have gotten a bad rap because of the potential presence of drugs, parents have organized their own 'safe raves' and dance parties for children. These parties have last through the night are fairly common for high school grads.
The techno music can be a little too much for some, and it seems like adult supervision is necessary at some of these rave parties. But a responsible young adult can definitely let loose!
What often happens is someone will pick up some glowsticks and start doing a 'rave dance'. The light show that they put on is a feast for the eyes! These multi-colored streaks of light flashing and waving to the music makes the evening. Some of the shyness seems to fade away as these kids show off their skills with their glowstick dance!
This is what they call 'glowsticking'.
Freehand glowsticking looks like other dance styles as well as having its own unique set of moves. An basic movement used in freehand glowsticking is the figure eight. It is the most well known, although not the most common move.
Glowstringing is defined by a few factors: the use of glowsticks on a string, the swinging motion, and an equally large growing category of moves and concepts that are common to glowstringing and the moves are sometimes similar to freehand glowsticking.
Glowsticks are not recommended when the space is confined or tight since there is the potential of accidentally striking another rave goer when doing the moves. Some rave promoters have started prohibiting glowsticks from events if safety becomes a factor.
But normally common sense rules the day and the kids have good clean fun, enjoying the sounds and watching and even participating in their own light show!
