From Observation to Participation

During our first visit to Midnight Rodeo, we were mainly outsiders observing the culture and its participants without partaking much in their activities. We tried to interview a variety of the patrons there to see how the experiences between the different subcultures compared and contrasted between each other.

Then during our second and third visits we each decided to embody one of the subcultures. This allowed one of us to be an insider for one of the subcultures and outsiders for the remaining two. This in turn gave us a wider range of interview responses that were not previously available to us during our first visit.

Hannah embodied the Country Danceaholic subculture. She had previous experience in the Midnight Rodeo culture and was able to two step dance naturally and dress in their attire so she was easily accepted into their society. Many of the regulars at Midnight Rodeo asked her to dance throughout the night and she was able to ask them questions about their time there. One guy, Zach told her that many of the Country Danceaholics looked down upon those people who were seen off the dance floor practicing spin combinations of more complicated lift sequences. "You don't come here to practice, you come here to show off what you can do" he told her.

Becca embodied the Average Joe subculture. She was asked to dance a few times by some of the less skilled dancers. Many times Becca noticed that these patrons were often unsure of their dancing abilities and were often the ones that were seen "practicing" off the side of the dance floor. As Becca interviewed some of these participants many mentioned that Midnight Rodeo was not one of their "regular" hangout spots, but that they enjoyed the atmosphere there.

Jessi embodied the Just Looking for a Good Time subculture. Most of her night was spent sitting at one of the tables off to the side with the other members of this subculture or standing near the bar. However, whenever the music changed from country to rap or hip hop many of these patrons flocked to the floor to get down. As Jessi talked to these patrons, many mentioned that they didn't care much for country music and that they rarely came to Midnight Rodeo.