One of the core principles of glowsticking.com culture seems to be rooted in disassociating glowsticking as a dance form from it's current perception of being associated with drugs/raves and pushing it into the mainstream by causing others to respect it is as a dance form... at least from what I've gathered from the articles and what many of staffers consistently seem to bring up through their comments.

And so with all that said, I'm curious as to how so many members of this community can be proponents of lightshows (for definition: http://www.glowsticking.com/articles-and-t...lightshow.html). To say that in order to enjoy a lightshow, one must be under the influence of some a drug might be forward and presumptuous of me, as I'm sure many of you will attest to the fact that you can enjoy the beauty of lightshows in your soberest of my moments, but honestly, I think we'd all agree that the target audience for those receiving lightshows are those that are under some sort of mental intoxication.

Now, how can we be pioneering glowsticking as a respectful art and dance form while endorsing, or at the very least, condoning in a practice that is so obviously and blatantly tied down to drug use?

It seems that as a community, glowsticking.com is adamant against the practice of glowsticking within the confines of a high school setting or public places where it can seen by those who don't understand glowsticking culture simply because it promotes stereotypes that we're very much so against and dedicated to doing our best to fight against. I don't understand how the situation differs any more then when one is at a rave through bolstering the idea that glowsticking should be used for those under the influence of drugs.

Given, as Dave said in the topic "Rave Culture Without Drugs"...



But regardless of whether or not glowsticking has it's foundations within the "tolerant rave scene type paradigm" does that mean we have to accept practices that, at least to me, seems contrary to what many of us seem to want? It's one thing to generally accept that glowsticking is meant to be done and accepted at raves, but do glowstick practices extend to lightshows?

If as a community, we do come to a decision that lightshows is detrimental to some of the main tenets of the "glowsticking.com MANIFESTO", then what do we against it?

Anyways, sorry about the long post. And not meaning to bash anyone or the community at all. Nor do I want to come as super critical about lightshows or anything. It's just that there seems to be a lot of flack about people performing in high school/public places that I was just wondering why this particular area wasn't getting much attention either. Just food for thought.

Thanks for your thoughts in advance. Keep it civil, fellas.

There are people trying to get the lightshow techniques to a level that can be appreciated by others who are not on drugs. Some people think a light show is the actual glowsticking regardless of how close you are or whatever it is. I think there was a thread about this recently.

Glowsticking.com does not promote drug use in anyway. That is correct. I believe that there are so many proponents of lightshows because gloving or any other form of lightshows is an art in itself. (When I say Lightshows, I don't mean glowsticking.) Lightshows are beautiful when sober. It takes a large amount of skill to be able to manipulate simply your hands, for instance in gloving, in order to convey effects during the beat of the music. I, for one, feel that, yes it is tied to the drug culture heavily, but that paradigm can be broken with time. It'll be a hard paradigm to crack, but it is doable. If you look at GSC, it focuses mostly on painting glowsticking as an art in a positive light, but also attempts to break the stereotypes of the rave culture in general, lightshows being an excellent example.

Note, this is my opinion and thoughts.

not realy pushing it main stream he if there was a push mainstream alot of people wouldnt be mes here. you know how many times i have heard " if theres someonme glowsticking in a 50 cent video im out"

ooo and this site started out of ILOVERAVING. COM

we had a topic like this in the others...dealing with "do lightshows prey on the weak"?

may be worthwhile to read that before writing up responses. just throwing it out there.

Lightshows in my mind doesn't always mean that the person receiving it is inebriated however that is the case. GSC does not advocate the use of drugs however your personal choice is your personal choice and as a sticker going to parties and raves you are going to encounter people that are not sober; it is the same for any other genre.

Mostly when I think of Lightshows, I don't even think of sticks, I think about Photons and conjuring so I can't even make the glowsticking connection there but sticking can sometimes play a part. The focus of gsc as someone mentioned is to express the art and preserve the culture; you can definitely present the art to someone that's messed up and give them a card, and talk to them about it; it'll just be a bit harder to do because they might want you to get in a cuddle puddle. (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And the topic that was mentioned before: http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/Lightshows-t19810.html

In order to really feel the music one also must be intoxicated..... true..or false..
my opinion false and so is yours right....now go back to lightshows, you do not have to be intoxicated to enjoy this or experience them in a similar matter.
you say sober is in no way similar to intoxicated, sure could be but this is only by the mind altering effects of drugs and has no relation to the lightshow itself. this would mean that with some drugs you wouldn't enjoy a lightshow because the effect are different.

the drugs have no relation to the lightshow. drugs do have a relation to the user and his perception.

let's say you have glasses, and you take them off during a lightshow wouldn't it also be somewhat more trippy, do not need drugs for enjoying moving lights.

I'm just going to say that I've gotten plenty of lightshows sober. I did it mostly whenever I wanted to watch someone else's moves up front and see what I could learn from them. It's funny though, sometimes I'll go to a party, ask someone for a lightshow, they'll ask me what pills I took etc. and I'll say none, I'm sober, and then they'll give me this weird look, as if to say, "Then why are you asking for one?" One guy just straight up refused to give me one, I think he thought I was trying to make fun of him or something. *Shrug*

As I stated in the last topic, I would like to think that a majority of GS.C party-goers are not the normal caliber of people attending massives. *Most* people wanting lightshows can't possibly be sober.

Just go to a massive and the proof is there.

I hear that.

Word.

I just feel that as a community who tends to already understand that glowsticking and lights are a beautiful art form in and of itself, we tend to forget that to the rest of the world, all of this is so closely tied to rolling and the rave scene. The idea of watching a light show while sober is laughable to many.

I don't do the lightshow thing regardless, I don't watch nor give because it's not my cup of tea because of the negative connotation it has. I once got a lightshow sober....... but thats because the person literally hounded me down and followed me and said "Look look it's cool look don't you like it look!" Even though I told him I hate lightshows and am sober so please leave me alone. Oh well. He didn't listen. (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

yeah i went to edc this year and while stringing alot of ppl would turn heads and watch with their thizz face or they would stop walking come toward me and just stand there and watch. like i personally dont like the fact that most ppl that think of light shows automaticly think drugs. i love watching other ppl string just so i can learn new stuff and even sober it is a beautiful sight. i dont think the problem is here within the glowsticking/glowstringing community its the kids that go to massives or any rave that only go to thizz and beg for light shows. and all those kids are the ones that bring down this community of glowstickers/glowstringers (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

I get the points made in this topic, and i very much understand the culture, but lets say a perfect example coming with here in Canada with Canada Day or even in the states. Would it be wrong to put on some sort of a light show at the beach, or at a park? It weird because everyone is constantly talking about how glow sticking is automatically incorporated with drugs but that is absolutly not the impression anyone has about it here. The first thing that comes to their mind is people that do the traditional fire poi, but instead its with glowsticks.

IMO decent lightshows need to be fairly close. Since i use longer strings people tend to give me some distance, also the more people ask me for a lightshow the less i want to string. I prefer to do it for myself when the music moves me.

I gave out a ton of light shows at EDC, both to sober and non sober people. after every one i handed them a GSC card (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)