I was asked to dance at an outdoor show last night. Actually, that’s a half-truth in actuality I invited a pretty girl out and she eventually took me up on my offer, however before I get into that we have to first begin with a little perspective, I was more specifically asking this particular lovely girl out to skank. Now the skank pit is one of my main comfort zones if not a safe space (at least for someone with as much aggression as me.) That is in stark contrast to my other comfort zone which is a library BUT I’m forever attracted to the pit with all of its coordinated chaos and natural endorphin rush. Over the years I have worked on mastering the craft of skanking having begun in my late teens at countless backyard gigs as are most of the attendants at any given punk/ ska show through the L.A. scene, I’ll spare details needless to say I’ve finally reached the age of old as fuck by punk standards, post thirties.
Now for a little more clarity, to skank is not to mosh, or pogo, or wreck. To skank in the pit is one of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever experienced , the mixing of the traditional ska, the 2 tone, third wave, punk /ska, the hardcore all into one big musical pozole that is supplemented by brass instruments that help guide the circle(s) throughout the night, wow what a sight. The judge of quality to any show of course has always been the bigger the pit the better the show but the quality of pit is always, always the most crucial component.
So now to formally begin, my lady friend and I met up at the park, she drank her imported beer I drank my domestic malt liquor, homies walked by (both hers and mine), herb was sparked and passed around. People began staring at us because the main homie we were with had a life changing pipe that lets you see the herb smoke turn into a perfect cyclone within the clear piece and we were packing mad bowls just to see the smoke take shape. We got comfortable where we were standing and just kept blazing and steady skanking within our own personal space half watching but really just hearing the second band as we continued to pack bowls, drink and catch up. It turned out that, that particular bands last song was one of her favorites. I should mention that all the while we were chilling she would keep looking onto the crowd, she politely excused herself and said she’d just seen a side pit where she could slide into and do her thing. She was wearing a black Adidas custom skirt, her hair was done up, she quickly disappeared into the crowd, within less than two minutes she was back, she caught the tail end of the song, catching her breath she asked us if we thought her nose looked broken. We looked at her surprised and she said something to the effect of pretty much walking into a fist while on her quick trip to the pit. Before I could comfort her a random girl walked by, tapped her on the shoulder and told her, “hey good work out there, you get down!” she (my friend) just looked at us as she was rubbing her nose confirming it wasn’t broken and told the random girl, “thanks” It was at that point that I figured she knew her stuff and figured now was a good a time as any to offer to join her if she decided to go back in.
I told her ever so nonchalantly I was impressed by the strangers’ compliment; she simply smiled and brushed it off. Just before the last band came out I decided to tell her to let me know when and if she was down to rush the pit, that I’d join her, she just kind of smirked and said she’d let me know. We remained at the bottom of the hill in the park overlooking the outdoor crowd focused on the main pit in the center of the dust filled dance floor, internally strategizing hoping that at some point someone would create a small pit preferably next to the huge main one. We both suddenly pointed at the same direction and at the same time just as the band began their second or third song one of their more popular tunes, I looked at her and asked her to just say the word, she then tied her shoe laces one last time to make sure they were on nice and tight and before I knew it I found myself making sure my laces where also tight and I was off tailing her all the while putting my glasses in my pocket because part of my expertise is knowing that once I get rowdy in there my glasses are the first things to go flying and get trampled, since having met her long before, I knew she was brutal but now I’d finally get to see for myself firsthand how she held her own.
After a few courtesy, “excuse me” and “pardon me” phrases leading into the pit we broke through the barrier that housed those twenty or thirty or so souls going in a circle that were trying ever so hard to coexist and not to offend one another, I braced myself and began skanking to her lead pushing away anyone who would disrupt my rhythm. I looked up to see how my dance partner was fairing but began noticing that many of the people in that pit were quickly beginning to seek refuge outside of the danger zone and were gradually stepping to the side, by then the twenty or so souls had dwindled down to less than a hand full of only the hardcore. I looked around and there she was on my opposite end skanking/ dashing across that pit to her rhythm in her own world tremendously confident pushing and shoving any man or woman that got in her way, I began to notice a few people just outside of the pit pointing at her as if telling one another, “beware of her, she’s dangerous” then they began looking at me like I was insane for dancing so close to her knowing what she was capable of, almost fearing that I’d get hit by this woman who apparently was also familiar with the art of the skank pit. Yet, in my mind I was telling myself, “actually homie I’m dancing with her so y’all better watch out coz we’re not showing anybody sympathy and we are in our fucking element.”
Eventually on a launch from one end of the pit to the other she managed to break though the barrier separating the main pit and the pit we were initially circling, and everyone from that big pit spilled into the space provided by the now empty smaller pit. As soon as that barrier was broken it was like she was having the most fun, I saw a big smile on her face, people would try to shove her only to have her push aside anyone in front of her using their own momentum against them, we were suddenly unleashed on the big dogs and the big dogs also ended up running for shelter. Being that I’m not in the physical shape I’d ideally like to be I had to catch my breath but one cannot simply escape the pit that easily and I wasn’t about to let these people escape, so I stood on one side of the pit between the now even larger one making sure it didn’t close up so she could still have her fun taking no prisoners.
The crazy part is that this was just the second time we’d ever danced! The first was in a more subdued completely opposite environment, I remember it was at a bar in downtown with cumbias and boogaloo and even then we gradually went into finding the rhythm and began dancing in a rock steady fashion ever so cool like. On this particular evening however I’d been asked to hit the dance floor and this time around it was finally an invitation to hit the pit and skank with a rudegirl that knew perfectly well how to navigate within all aspects of a skank pit. I told her it reminded me of this one woman from over a decade ago that if she showed up to the gig it was guaranteed to be good because she’d be in that pit like she owned it, she said she’d heard that comparison before of how scenesters would tell her they knew it was a good show because she was there and was going to tear shit up in the pit for sure. I told her it was the first time in a long time that I’d danced with a girl in that fashion and with that much skill, it was almost ceremonial because as many skankers know, one wrong move while circling around and anyone of those motherfuckers could knock you of your balance and have you eating shit real quick. But that particular fear for us was far off almost nonexistent.
Needless to say when we left that circle there was a sense of relief among the bravest, they made sure she was catching her breath and out for a good while, the few that did manage to hold their own held their head high knowing that they could tell their friends that they didn’t back out or exit the pit when the rudegirl was tearing shit up. Even when we finally stepped out, there were respectful cheers coming her way, people would give her a thumbs up or say things to the effect of, “hey, you fucking kicked ass in there!” as we were walking towards a spot to catch our breath a guy walking by asked me, “hey is that the girl that was kicking ass in the pit?” I replied, “yeah” he said, “right on, she’s fucking bad!” I smiled and said, “I know.”
