Rave, Work, Relax: Morning Gloryville brings its mantra to India

The human search for ecstasy

More than 5000 years before the Christian Era, a people known as the Ubaidians are believed to have first settled in Sumer, south of the Fertile Crescent, the Cradle of Civilisation. But, for much more than 20,000 years before Sumer, man has been in search of ecstasy as much as he's been in search of a water path to build his civilisation near.

In the Vedas, dance embodies the creation, preservation and destruction of the universe in the story of Shiva Nataraja, the cosmic dancer- his dance a means to break from the illusions of our artificial reality, and connect with the essential truth.

Years later in 1273, hearing artisans hum the Shahada whilst beating gold, Rumi fell into an ecstatic trance, whirling unstoppably on spot. Even today the Dervishes of the Mawlawi Order whirl to the sounds of religion.

Achieving a maddening spiritual ecstasy was at the centre of the Eleusinian and Dionysian Mysteries of ancient Greece, whose orgies of debauchery, wine and dance are every child’s favourite chapter of history. It seems the ancients knew how to enjoy the bounties of life far more than those of us consumed by caution and social dogma. And, so the human fascination with re-discovering, uncovering and re-inventing the culture of ecstasy has never quiesced, even in this profligate civilisation of neon and glint, even in our unbearable lightness of being.

In all our historic (and pre-historic) journeys to search for pleasure, we've used everything in nature's bounty to submerge ourselves in rapture. Some of us, though, only need to stand at the edge of a cliff to experience this ecstasy. Unfortunately, cliffs aren't the most readily available fixtures in the office space or our bedrooms.

So, we reserved our nights to spent with friends and strangers, always in a some state of intoxication. We've conditioned ourselves to depend, yet again, on a catalyst to break that shell and rave. And, we rave so we can go home tired, and sleep. But, not everyone thinks we need to lose our consciousness to lose ourselves, and we don't need to lose our energy into our sleep.

Morning Gloryville: Rave, Work, Relax

For the past few decades, we’ve adopted the nightlife as the only space where high-energy activities take place, outside of vacations. Socialisation that includes clubbing, partying or raving is the domain of dusk and later. Our highs in life need to be assisted by a substance and more.

Not anymore.

In 2013, event producer Samantha Moyo and bodywork therapist Nico Thoemmes created Morning Gloryville. They called it ‘conscious clubbing’. Started in London, Morning Gloryville, in about a year, has spread across the world: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brighton, Dublin, NYC, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Zurich and, now, Bangalore.

The movement redefines what you normally associate with clubbing. There are no pretences, no constraints and no punctilios to observe. You wake up early in the morning, and rave in the cool sunlight of the morning, and share the high of sobriety with those around you - your new kith - before you go to work. It's a communal rite comparable to the bacchanal revelries of ancient Greece, except nobody needs alcohol. You are your own alcohol. Think of it as learning how to jump-start your internal engine without the need of plugging jump starters to your earlobes. Morning Gloryville is about allowing you to release all that energy that's distended your mind.

It’s almost a therapeutic catharsis to join so many others in a ritualistic expression of dance: fully aware, conscious and sober. Between exercise, dance, rave sessions, yoga and massages, everyone has an outlet they can use to power themselves.

It’s a reinvention of clubbing to make it consciously social, transformative, energy-driven and sustainable. It’s clubbing as a philosophy.

You wear what you want, whether it’s the lungi from last night, batik shawl, clown shoes or a loincloth. Meet a diverse community of artists, dancers, workers and people just looking to break a sweat with the same insouciance Pumba sings Hakuna Matata. There is no one to impress, and plenty of space to break the floor, open your mind, energise yourself and connect with natural group high. It’s living, and being conscious of it. And, the smoothies and juices don’t hurt.

And, it’s here in Bangalore.

At the Royal Orchid, Bangalore on 10^th September, Morning Gloryville made its virgin stop in India. Invigorating an almost tribal sense of togetherness, the ecstasy of dancing in the sunlight, washing down a hearty breakfast with Jamaican Me Crazy smoothies, immersing in the sweet smell of unlimited coffee and sweet touch of morning massages, courtesy SPA.CE, is the way you want to break your day before you head out to work.

The yoga sessions are conducted by Total Yoga. Because, Morning Gloryville is against anything that puts you in a full blown rut, it has a habit of introducing new activities for each of its editions. The next one introduces Slacklining from Feet Off Ground.

The whole process is a kind of cognitive realignment in terms of how you perceive mornings, and subsequently behave during mornings. The juices that this activity flushes into your system are Mescalin for your brain. There’s no denying that exercise has been known to improve creativity, and the positive disposition Gloryville puts you in creates a healthier mind and soul.

"Morning Gloryville is a huge heap of fun, a necessary injection of good positive energy into humdrum city morning culture. On a deeper level, we believe in transforming clubbing into something sustainable and healthy. We are challenging societal norms and in doing so giving our community a sustainable means of expression. We’re bridging the gap between the conscious dance scene (five rhythms, biodanza etc) and what we could term 'traditional' raving. We believe in the transformative power of dance, sobriety and embodied practice." - Geetu Singh, Glory Agent

For those of you who missed this unique social experience of fun, sobriety and terpsichorean fraternity, there’s a second edition of Morning Gloryville on 8^th October at the Hotel Royal Orchid, Geoffrey’s Lawns at 6.30 am (Bangalore).

If you’re someone who wakes up worse for wear and needs a shot of something to wake you from a slumber only to put you in a grumpy disposition punching the keyboard at work, then it's mandatory you give yourself the Gloryville treatment. It's guaranteed to change the way you look at the silver glow of your office laptop early morning.

For those of you who think it's absolutely not fair that only Bangalore gets to enjoy this exciting bohemian experience in clubbing, Morning Gloryville will hit Delhi, Mumbai and Pune in a few months. You can follow them on their Facebook page to find out more details.