There are only a few things that motivate a wimpy Californian like me to brave the chilly East Coast nights. A silent disco is one of them. Lots of random oddities have been popping up around Georgetown recently: spinning rainbow-lighted triangular prisms by the ice rink on the waterfront, a see-saw by Dean & DeLuca, and most recently a crowd of people dancing the cold away in a silent dance party on the Grace Church front lawn.
Beautiful light-up origami butterflies were the backdrop of our dance party. The Georgetown Business Improvement District commissioned various public light displays as part of the Georgetown GLOW festival; the silent disco is one of their free ventures. If you’ve never been to a silent disco, they may seem peculiar at first. The “what the heck is this” element is what convinced my friend Anna to accompany me. The moment we arrived the organizers handed us headphones which had a strip of light over the headpiece that changed depending on which of the three DJ’s you were listening to. One channel played exclusively techno-dance music, like the kind of EDM you might find at a rave (never been to one, just a wild guess). The second channel featured some modern pop hits, “Wobble” being a favorite. But the channel with by far the most character played songs like “Jump On It” and “Got to Be Real” — basically any famous soul/disco song from the 70s you can think of. I’m not going to lie, I may have pulled out some moves à la John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever when “She’s a Bad Mama Jama” came on. Having multiple music choices resulted in an often hilarious exercise: analyzing Anna’s dance moves to figure out if we were listening to the same music.
Silent discos are a baptism by fire in learning to read lips. Unlike being at a dance club and at least having the option to yell as loud as you can to get someone to hear you, at a silent disco everyone is literally in their own world. It presented the unique challenge of communicating with your movements. Two fingers pointing to the left became, “Let’s go dance over there”, and two taps to my headphones and pointing at Anna meant, “Are we listening to the same thing? This is good!”. A grimace and pointing to my toes, roughly translated to “Are your toes as freezing as mine are?”, became more frequent as the night went on.
One of my favorite parts of the night was stepping away from the crowd, pulling off my headphones, and taking in the scene in front of me. Before me were dozens of strangers in colorful lighted headphones, all dancing together regardless of the fact they’d just met half an hour ago. With my headphones on, it feels perfectly normal to be grooving out with everyone. But once I take off my headphones, it’s a hilarious scene to see so many people unabashedly dancing in complete silence. That’s what the many people walking down Wisconsin Ave must have been thinking when they stopped to watch. Luckily, looking ridiculous is all part of the fun.
Correction 12/16/16: The “Georgetown Business Improvement District’s” title has been updated to include the word “District.”
