A compilation article quoting various members of glowsticking.com

Let us start with explaining what a crew is. A crew, in the context of this article, is a group of dancers who give themselves a name. This crew then competes against other crews to see who is the best. The term is derived from the hip hop culture, where break dancers form crews for the purpose of competition. Even should they not compete, a crew still elevates themselves above the rest of the party-goers by giving themselves a name.

"The glowsticking and rave scene was created to not have crews, to not have gangs, and to not have someone trying to be the best. Many of you probably don't realize this and that's what is so sad. The "scene" has been watered down so heavily over the years by various outside influences that it has turned into something that allows these people who form crews another venue to show off and alienate others.

A common argument from those who are in crews is "but we get down with everyone." However, you do not get down with everyone. You do not speak to everyone at the party. You do not know everyone at the party. So that is a silly argument. As your rolling with your "crew"  you might be intimidating others who are shy and don't know how to approach people. They may get the wrong impression of you and have a negative view of the party. Some people can't approach people in large groups.

Another common argument is "they are my best friends." No one is saying they can't be your best friends. Why you feel it necessary to call yourself something is something we will never understand. Maybe it comes from this age of Americas Best Dance Crew and urban dance influenced styles where everyone feels the need to call themselves by a crew name and represent. People want to think of a cool name for their group of friends "crew", because that's what you see all over MTV these days.

Our ideals are built on what the RAVE scene was originally. When it was something pure. When people didn't compete with others or separate themselves. When the statement "I get down with everyone" did happen. Because at every party everyone was a friend as soon as you walked in the door.

We are unwavering because we have seen all the negative things that happens from these outside influences. Physical damage, property  damage, people feeling alienated, people dropping the art because others "owned" them at a party, whole scenes getting burned out.

We aren't elitist. We don't care if you can do a weave or not or a hand-stall or not. Everyone is welcome to come join us at meet-ups. We just hope you share the core beliefs that we do.

We don't like those that will just take the art and use it for personal gain. Whether it's monitory or simply for status in their general area."

- Cleric

"People that join crews usually end up in the same place for similar reasons - it's not for love of the art but for love of the applause."

- CybrPunk

"Being in a crew isn't worth anything. Too many instigators think that topping one another would be the right thing to do. If someone went in a circle because one of their so called "friends" told them to go in and top another person, that wouldn't be a friend. It's just an instigator that's saying something just to make someone go in and make a fool of themselves.

Then, there's the people with big egos that think they know better than one another and think they're awesome because they can do this move while another person can't. This is what kills the stringers confidence and causes them to soon quit because someone put them down. It's better to be who you are and realize what's going to happen after a battle. Yes, there may be handshaking after a battle, but who's going to be thinking they won and who's going to quit later because of the losses?

It's just not worth being in a crew if you don't want to get burned."

- Greens2Dust

Quoting DJ Sparrow from his personal tragedy story titled "Saving Texas", in which his unborn child was killed and his wife nearly died due to a battler from a crew slipping drugs into her drink at a club:

"The culture has become so corrupt that problems are no longer settled on dance-floors, they're settled in hospitals.

I could turn this whole story (see "Saving Texas") into one big "don't battle" message, but I want it to be more than just that. I want it to be an exhibit of how bad society can get. How a culture you love so much can become so volatile.

Don't hate others, don't alienate others (by joining crews), don't call people biters, haters, fakers, or whatever comment you can think up. Why can't we all be one thing, family? Mine has already been destroyed, and the last thing I want to see is others have this happen."

- DJ Sparrow

"Take it way back to the year 1997. Then, unlike now, was all about PLUR. It was tight enough that acceptance was easy. Raving was all about how you felt in the moment, not about technique. No one cared how "good" you were, only that you were having a great time and feeling two things: good vibes, and the music. At no time were we (that were) in the "underground" about ruining that. It stayed that way until it hit mainstream around 2000. It became flyer based and the music shops started broadcasting raves in general; before that it was word of mouth. Everyone wanted in, and the hip hop generation laid claim to it. No offense to the hip hoppers here, it's not everyone. But crews were (and still are) a big deal in the hip hop club scene. Once that happened everyone began this competition movement, trying to be better than everyone else, destroying the harmony that started the scene. As accepting as "true" ravers are (or "were" in this case) we let it in and didn't realize our mistake until it was too late."

- DragonsFury

"People get discouraged and hurt. Tempers flare. Injuries, broken scenes, deaths-- battling (and crews) have directly or indirectly caused all of these."

- Lira

"Glowsticking.com as a community has worked hard to protect, develop and promote the art of glowsticking. Please respect our contributions and efforts by not battling and competing. It's about sharing the knowledge, sharing the love...Not about who's the best."

- Chicago Compilation 2002

"Crews and battles discourage the sharing of ideas. There would be less tutorials, less videos, less articles. Because if I am the best, then I will want to stay the best. Why should I share? The idea of a crew promotes segregation. Most dance crews like bboy crews recruit their members based on skill level. So then you end up with people who are "in" and who are "out". More so, knowledge and inspiration will NOT be passed between these crews. Isn't that a lot worse for learning and the growth of the whole?

Simply put, the idea of competition (and crews) simply does not fit within the rave culture, since rave culture promotes unity and coming together as a whole."

- Wes

"To put it bluntly, crews do not belong in rave and glowsticking culture, they belong in hip hop culture-- which was founded on individualism and survival. Crews set people apart from the rest of the rave and glowsticking community, which is not what the rave and glowsticking culture was founded on. Our culture was founded on an open, caring and sharing outlook toward others at the events and in the scene. Crews go directly against this aspect of the culture."

- Ph0toN

Let us end on a quote from cynicdave referring to what happens when crews are removed from the picture:

"No one is an island."

- cynicdave

Putting this quote into context, crews are like islands. They are separate from one another and knowledge is not passed between them. This inhibits the growth of the art as a whole.


- Article compiled by Ph0toN.  Quotes have been edited for grammar and spelling and as such are not 100% directly quoted.