Waking up at the crack of dawn is not something I do often.
But on a recent morning, I decided to toss tradition to the wind and awaken at the ripe hour of 5 a.m. — so I could head to a rave.
Yes, a rave.
The 3-hour morning party, known as Daybreaker, is part of what its creators call a "movement" in 16 cities including San Francisco, Seattle, Paris, and Tokyo.
The sunrise soirée involves no alcohol or drugs. And did I mention it starts with an hour-long yoga class?
"Our goal was to create a safe space where people could sweat and express themselves — really let their hair down and let go," Daybreaker's co-founder, 38-year-old Radha Agrawal, told Business Insider. "We said let’s replace all the negative, dark stuff about nightclubs with light, positive stuff."
Here's what it was like.
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When I moved to London, a friend told me about a morning rave called Daybreaker, which she described as a night of clubbing minus the booze and set in the morning. In February, I signed up for "Love is in the air," Daybreaker's next shindig.
Daybreaker parties usually begin at 6 a.m. with an hour of yoga followed by 2 hours of dancing. You have a choice of 2 types of tickets: One that includes the yoga or one that's just for the dancing. To do both, the ticket cost me £28 (about $30). The venue was a nightclub called OMEARA, located in London's Southwark neighborhood.
When my alarm went off on Tuesday morning at 5 a.m., my initial reaction was to shut it off and crawl back under the blankets. For a few minutes, I desperately regretted my ambitious plans. But as a morning person — something that's largely genetic — I was able to pull myself out of bed. (It wasn't as easy for my night-owl partner, Chris, who'd volunteered to come with me.)
Source: Nature Communications, 2016
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