Saturday, October 30, 2010

ITP V.010: THE ART OF DANCE: PART 3: CIRCLE MOSH


We're back, (and HAPPY HALLOWS EVE BTW,) with ITP V.010 THE ART OF DANCE: PART 3: CIRCLE MOSHING. ITP THE ART OF DANCE chronicles countercultural and unconventional dance trends often integrated within metal and underground music culture.
CIRCLE MOSHING originated in the hardcore and metal scenes as a call goes to the crowd to hold shoulders and run around in a big circle as eventually a mosh pit will break out. The DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL (UK) has featured some record breaking circle mosh/pits as the wall of death is often integrated into such. The "CIRCLE PIT" is often called out to promote unity when things go sour in the pit. The vortex of the circle pit is intense as people should pick each other up if they fall.
Circle walkers originated in Islamic and Muslim culture during religious masses.
Circle pits are best performed at metal/hardcore/punk arena, stadium and festival shows with ALOT of people.
WIKEPEDIA DEFINITION OF CIRCLE PIT:
A circle pit is a term for aggressive dancing associated with moshing performed by people running in a circle usually at Rock music gigs. It is a type of strenuous dancing associated with certain subgenres of music such as ska, punk rock, thrash, heavy metal, and even some harder rock and electronic music, usually started by members of the crowd running wildly in a circle slamming into each other in response to the speed of the music and the beat. The tempo and speed of the music playing also play a big role on how fast and intense the circle pit is; if a blast beat is being played, the mosh pit will be much more intense than a pit danced to a basic rock beat.

A circle pit is a large and usually roughly circular clearing in the audience of a music concert slightly apart from the front of the stage. The circle is formed from the members clearing the space and running in a counterclockwise direction. A circle pit varies from a mosh pit in that a mosh pit usually does not have any sort of orderly behavior: participants in a mosh pit often push, shove and bounce off each other rather than moving in a circle.

A meat grinder is a variation on a circle pit. Dancers form a circle, running counterclockwise. Inside of this is another circle, in which dancers run clockwise. Inside of this is yet another circle of dancers running counterclockwise. In the middle there is a small mosh pit, being kept in by the innermost circle. This generally occurs at ska punk, ska-core, hardcore punk, and punk rock concerts.

Fans of different punk, metal or rock styles often have their own rules or characteristics for pits, ranging from relatively friendly to deliberately violent. Originally associated with subcultures, pits have been seen more and more in association with mainstream acts. Typically, circle pits at mainstream concerts are considered to be relatively safe,
FROM ABOUT.COM:
Definition: A variation on the circle pit, a meat grinder involves multiple concentric circles of people in the pit, each moving in the opposite direction.

For example, the outermost circle of the pit would consist of concertgoers running counterclockwise, while the next circle would be moving clockwise. This would continue inward, with each concentric circle being a little smaller.

A perfectly exercised meat grinder moves very quickly, and the rings are very close in size, so that the gaps between each ring are minimal.

An advanced move for the seasoned circle pit professional is to try to jump the rings, either by starting in a ring moving in one direction and attempting to switch directions, or by strating in one ring and attempting to switch to the next ring moving in the same direction, i.e. cutting through an adjacent ring without breaking the momentum.
Pronunciation: MEET GRIND-urr

Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-