Fun with friends in the pogodrome: Dancing the disorder in French punk culture

Abstract

Based on French expressions of contemporary punk culture, this article looks at the formation of the pogo during gigs. Although this dance is one of the characteristics of punk expression, it remains little studied. From an interactionist perspective, using a comparative approach between different ethnographic fields, the aim is to understand how the order of the pogo is negotiated by the actors involved. More than that, the aim is to understand how this improvised collective dance produces disorder and gives rise to a community experience. To do this, we are interested in the context in which the pogo takes place. Venues play a decisive role in the implementation of this dance and help to create a playful space–time. A new world of meaning is created: the pogodrome. From then on, the physical commitment of the participants is linked to the rules of the pogodrome, and the breaks in interaction reveal the limits of the framework thus formed. Finally, the pogo appears to be a tool for embodying disorder, both physical and sociopolitical. In fact, the pogodrome becomes a territory of disorder, taken over by communities of practitioners that sometimes last beyond the time of the concert.