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individuals, often strangers to one another, in contexts that are in-between (or
liminal) to their daily round, and perhaps also undergoing physical ordeals, may
experienceaspontaneous“flashofmutualunderstandingontheexistentiallevel,
and a 'gut' understanding of synchronicity.” (4)
Certainly, the tactility experienced in sharing an intimate space would facilitate the
emergence of communitas, and, being a significant feature of the clubbing experience,
it is also an important contributor to the vibe (cf. Malbon 1998).
The concept of communitas foregrounds connectedness or social insideness, but it
missestwootherconstituentelementsofthevibe,namely,itsspatializationandtheprac-
tices through which both subjects and spaces are formed (cf. Pile 2008). The subjects of
communitas that are so profoundly connected—are so constituted—because they have
plugged into the same affective currents by means of their participation in a particular
form of life. This is most evident in the role that music plays in clubbing. Music has the
ability to transform or create a particular kind of space, especially as it connects people,
drawing them into particular trajectories and routines of activity. The crowd's response
tothemusiccreatestheatmosphereoftheclubasan“emotionallychargedspace”(Mal-
bon 1998, 271). This experience of emotionally charged connectedness was described
by two of the clubbers that Rautenbach (2011) interviewed as part of our joint study
differed significantly in terms of their personal histories and clubbing preferences, they
constructed their emotional responses to the vibe in strikingly similar ways.
Claireisatwenty-nine-year-old,whitefemalewhoworksasasalesassistantinajew-
ellery store. She has been an active clubber for the past seventeen years. She goes club-
bing “to lose [herself] in the music, to exercise, to be happy, and to just enjoy a fant-
astic … vibe that comes into the room” and describes the clubbing experience as one
in which you “lose yourself, find yourself, go home, have a sleep and get back to your
boring job.” Interestingly, having recently become a “born again” Christian, Claire ex-
periences music and dancing as a manifestation of the divine— a means through which
she can communicate with God. In our discussions around dance music Claire argues
that “there's definitely acrescendo buildup,whichsometimes takes anabsolute age,and
there's a particular point, just before it breaks, where the entire crowd is absolutely riv-
eted by whatever song is on.” She describes the moment in which the whole clubbing
crowd is “waiting for the crescendo to break,” where “they're all weeping with joy and
glee at precisely the same moment, and in that same moment you are carried away by
that feeling and you feel buoyant and light with that energy.” Interestingly, she observes
that while the rest of the clubbers “could all be on drugs” she can “still feel their energy
the same way they do. It is just free.” For Claire, one of the main constituents of this
emotionallychargedsenseoffreedomisthemusic.“Youloseyourselfinthemusic.The
