Stage Diving
Stage Diving, as the name suggests is basically jumping from the stage and diving down on to the audience during the course of a performance. This act is extremely popular on the music front. This is especially done during performances of well known bands and punk shows. For a lot of artists and performers this is a part of their “culture”. People who love to stage dive exclaim that it sets the mood for their performance.
Iggy Pop and Peter Gabriel have been acknowledged as the people to stage dive for the very first time. They are known to be the originators of stage diving.
‘Stage diving’, ‘crowd surfing’ and ‘moshing’ are related terms when it comes to these performing traditions. In fact, stage diving is the thing that needs to be done, which leads on to crowd surfing.
In modern and pop cultures however “cool” this act maybe, there is a lot of risk involved in it. It is dangerous for not only the performers who do it but also the concert goers on whom they plan to dive. It might just end up hurting any of the people involved in the activity. If not caught properly by the crowd, it can lead to serious injuries or jerks to vital parts of the body such as the spinal cord.
While a lot of people refuse to attend music concerts because of previous bad experiences of stage diving; a lot of people believe it is just the right thing to do in a music concert. So even if they do get hurt, they do not stop because they like the “adrenaline rush”. They enjoy it and boast off their injuries later on. Stage diving for a lot of people is a cultural norm. After their injuries, these artists just call this ‘adventure sports’ and be happy about having done it.
A lot of times these acts are scripted or planned before hand, as spontaneous jumping on to the crowd can be dangerous.
A stage dive can even prove fatal. In the worst case scenario, if a stage diver jumps and the crowd moves out, the fall right from the stage, several feet down can cause – a disability, injure a person badly or even cost ones life. Beside this, the crowd or the audience stands the risk to be hit by either a shoe or some other sharp object in the artists’ attire which can cause grave damage.
Bernadette O’Brien is one of the many examples of the people who lost their life while attempting a stage dive.
A lot of times these divers are even robbed off or stolen of their belongings. There have even been cases of abuse among women divers and surfers by the male audiences. In a lot of places like U.K. and others, stage diving has been banned to some extent. In order to ensure safety of the concert goers as well as the performers, the security appointed during these concerts, make sure that no such activity takes place.
Even after injuries and death, stage diving continues to be a favourite of many fanatics and performers. In terms of injuries, stage diving is the safest when already planned or when the crowd is a lot. Stage divers should keep in mind to wear soft shoes and clothes which do not have anything that might end up hurting someone in the audience. Stage diving needs courage to do and is definitely not for the weak hearted.
- Shaan.
Tags: jumping from the stage, stage dive, stage diving, stage jump
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