GRACE'S MUSINGS: Music has no age: let’s dance ‘til dawn

I am recently back from the brilliant INNOCOS Conference in Berlin – and I’m still catching my breath. Not because we worked too hard, spoke to too many people or have a brain-overload from the many innovative speakers the conference had to offer, but because I did something I haven’t done for a while. In a wonderful open air nightclub I discovered that my feet simply did not want to stop, and I danced – yes, literally danced – ‘til dawn.

It made me think: is there a point at which behaviour more associated with my girls is just not quite the ‘done’ thing for a woman in her fifties?

Oh so very briefly, I wondered if perhaps there’s a whole host of activities that should remain firmly in youth – like going to festivals, clubbing, karaoke (to be fair, potentially undignified at any age) or wearing hot pants? And then I pulled myself up. Who am I kidding? Festivals are my happy place, I still go clubbing, I love karaoke and if I choose to wear hot pants, let nobody, absolutely nobody, stop me. As far as I’m concerned, we are never ‘too old to …’ It’s a phrase that makes me wince – alongside ‘age appropriate’ or ‘acting one’s age’.

And so with Glastonbury on the horizon and the festival season underway, I have no doubt that I will once again be dancing ‘til dawn at one of them. Pretty much since the dawn of time we have gathered together to let our hair down and free ourselves with movement and music. When Glastonbury was first held in 1970, it was populated by (and performed at) young, beautiful people using music to escape their day-to-day lives and party the night away.

Fast-forward to the present-day music scene and the landscape has very definitely ‘matured’. We know that music festival goers span all age groups now. The artists of previous decades – our generation and a generation or two before us – are still going strong. They are headlining these events. People 50-plus loved them first time round, and young people today see their contributions to music as part of their musical heritage. It stands to reason that every age wants to enjoy them – not least of all me. 

So if there is ever a question of being ‘too old to dance ‘til dawn …’ – here at Studio10 the answer will always be a deafening NEVER. My love of festivals, of dancing, of watching the sun rise over a weary but happy crowd of like-minded souls will not diminish until my legs can no longer carry me there. I go because I LOVE to dance, to unwind and to be with my friends, and being in my fifties certainly isn’t going to stop me. Festivals, clubbing and dancing ‘til dawn are for anyone at any age. You know where to find me …