this is what my body was made for

a meditation on dancing

Bass thumps, heartbeat bumps. The song calls to my slumped, working body.

I try to keep typing, but I have to push my chair back, get up, answer the call.

I bounce a little, do the middle-aged woman dance, tapping side to side, shaking my shoulders, feeling it, clapping—then the chorus hits and I’m back in middle school—

get low, hip shake, squat, knees up—limbs moving fluid, no plan, just in it—smiling, singing—

Before, I was in the middle of my work day, hunched alone inside my computer.

Now, atoms have shifted the air electric. I’m quick. I’m new. I’m alive.

Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash

No pattern, just moving where the song takes me— joy rolling through.

Bounce, yell, sing, smile, fist-pound the air—this is what my body was made for.

When the song arrived, I didn’t even know I was stale, sad.

Now I’m a cloud of sound. I am song.

I’m joy, boiled down to the essence of me.

Soon, I’ll forget. The news, the logistics of life will bury it deep.

But the song will remember and come find me.

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Younger me dancing in roller skates at Belvedere’s roller disco night with my sister, Casey (my all-time fave dance partner)

A few dance mixes for you (can’t stop/won’t stop calling them mixtapes):

• love this dance mix from my friend Agatha (follow her here for more)

• current favorite dance song, “Groove is in the Heart” (Lulu’s doing a dance to this with her hip-hop class and I’m so grateful to her dance teacher for bringing it back into my life)

• my old trusty dance mix

• “overly earnest playlist title”: current seasonal playlist with a mix of chill and dance songs

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