Dancing from. dusk ’til dawn iT IS the latest thing to hit Vancouver, Rave! Definition: “An all-night, alcchol-free, dance-till-you-drop party.’’ Although raves are relatively new to Vancouver, they have been around for several years in the U.K. where they were born and raised. Regardless of how or where they were started, they are here now and attracting loads of atten- tion, both positive and negative. © "Ihave never been to one of these dances but | intend to g0 after hearing many people tave ‘about them. .., It seems that the main attrac- tion is the atmosphere present at these events, It is nat tike a club where you have to put up with a “tot of attitudes or worry about gangs hanging around trying to Start fights. Everyone is there to have a ' good time and let loose. Unfortunately, the cops have ei- ther had a bad experience or feel . that their duty is to keep young adults from having a good time. From what | have heard, the police arrive just as the evert begins and stop those who are not’ _ already inzide from entering. ct many cases, those who are prevented from entéring the rave are angry. I talked to a friend of mine who had such an experience. This is his story: “I spent the majority of my Saturday night in the back of a police cruiser accused of inciting a riot and disturbing the peace. For : 20 minutes I sat nervously clut- | '. ching my bottle of Evian, smelling “the dank odor of police dogs and. ; envisioning the druggies and “pimps who had occupied this seat before me. ' “Pm a good kid, really. do my homework. I make my bed and eat my veggies. But that night, 1 was frisked for weapons, harassed, and chucked into a Port Coquitlam squad car and all because [ wanted to go to a dance with my friends and be an average, run-of-the-mill teenager. ’ “1 was arrested for trying to get into Martin Love, a rave that was :, Slated to happen in PoCo. ‘*A rave is basically an all-night dance that goes from dusk until Last week we asked you to comment on teen discrimina- tion and the article about it that appeared on last Friday’s ZAP! page. .1 was really heping someone would write about that because I’ve been experiencing a tot of discrimination recently just because of my age. - Pm 14 and I find thet I can’t . go into a store without people looking at me like ’'m shoplift- ing. I can't. bring bags wherever i'm going because ‘I'm scared about being ermbar- gassed by someone wanting to check them. 1 think it’s a sma!l percent-. age of teenagers who sheplift and I don't think everyone should be treated like that just because of the way we look. - Lots of times, I’ve been in stores waiting to buy some- Sydney is 17 years.old, and a Grade 12 student at Carson Graham secondary school, She has hopes for a future in the film industry, dawn. It’s an alcohol-free, dance-till-you-drop party, where popular DJs such as DJ Quickfix or DJ Noah spin super trancy, namicless, faceless techno and house rhythms. “For this particular rave, over 1,500 tickets were sold to smiling, happy Ravers. “The police arrived at the rave by midnight. Ten cruisers and 30 stern police officers had padlock- ed the access gate and were turn- ing kids away. : “Frustrated, I tried to explain the fundamentals of the rave at- titude. “It’s not ebout images or at- titudes. No one comes here lovk- ing for a fight; they come here to tiave fun, to let Joose, te dance and express themselves. “There is no violence, na pretence, But trying to explain this to 30 police officers who were ai- ready angry about having to leave their doughnuts and coffee was of no use. “They were not going to let us in to the rave that we had paid $30 u pop