Straight out of the Footloose playbook, a video shows NSW police allegedly shutting down an act of public dancing – yes, you read that right – over the weekend.
Let’s take it back a few paces for context. Currently, this year’s Vivid celebrations have been drawing thousands to Sydney to revel in everything art and music, the latter of which is, of course, an element of Sydney’s culture the State Government has been going head to head with over the last few years.
Still, people are finding ways to get their fix of artistic rebellion and festivities at Vivid this year, with a plethora of live events keeping revellers ticking over well into the night.
This wasn’t to be for those involved in Sydney’s Free Dance Party though. On Saturday night, Christie Aucamp-Shutte hosted a jovial, free-t0-join dance party on Sydney streets at 10:30pm. The environment was a safe one, in a non-residential area, not inciting any hostile behaviour.
After roughly half an hour of cutting shapes, though, Aucamp-Shutte was approached by police and rangers, ready to rain down on her parade.
“We were just dancing,” she explains to Music Feeds. “Out of nowhere, I didn’t realise that they came until they tapped me on the shoulder. The guy was like, ‘Turn it off. Now.'”
“I said, ‘Can we please just finish this song?’ and he was like, ‘No, no, turn it off now. Move along.’ I don’t want to get a fine, so we turned off the music and moved along. He was stern and cold.”
The video posted by Free Dance Party, below, has gone viral since the weekend – check it out below.
