Just Euphoria

In the Bay Area, the wind has been epic, a freeze warning is in place for the whole bay, and even snow is predicted to fall the rest of this week. Just earlier this week it was up to 60 degrees, and it almost felt like spring time was here.

Today is the last sunny day before major rain storms come, so I whipped out my dancing shoes and moved my body. Below is a video of a few shuffle dancing highlights from this past week, featuring newly blossomed flowers behind me!

When music plays, I listen. My body takes over. I love what poet Nayyirah Waheed says, that listening is one of the only places where you can be still and moved at the same time.

Hope you enjoy!

About two years ago, I started learning how to shuffle, which is also known as "cutting shapes." The origins of this dance style is layered and complex, with influences dating back to 1920s dance styles to old school hip hop. The underground rave scene in the 80s/early 90s, popularized by rave dancer Leeroy Thornhill, gave birth to modern shuffling that expanded the footwork algorithm.

When I first started learning this dance style, I could barely grasp the running man, a core shuffling move. In 10 seconds, I would be on the floor totally out of breath with legs cramping up from the intense microbounces and footwork. Shuffling is like a tongue twister for the body, and requires a decent amount of athleticism, stamina, strength, and skill. There were songs that I wanted so badly to shuffle dance to when I was a total beginner, but my brain and body literally could not process the high bpm speeds and technicality of the moves!

I'm proud of how much I've grown in my dance practice. I'm more humble with myself, instead of hard on myself. The introduction of new shuffling moves into my dance practice has been slow and gradual. Instead, I've been focusing on increasing smoothness in flow, more depth and control in my movement. Traveling farther, going faster. These nuanced adjustments make a big difference, and require significant energy expenditure and lots of training. Yet it's also easy to get mechanical with shuffle dancing. So when I can get into flow and my mind shuts off, it feels like total freedom. Ecstasy. Euphoria. And it's fun to shuffle dance to all kinds of music.

My movement is an expression of the deep gratitude I feel for living in a body that is healthy and functioning.

Right now, my sweet Rosie dog does not seem to have a body that is functioning. The past few days, she's struggled to eat. This morning, her stomach was hard and bloated. She could barely stand up for more than 10 seconds before collapsing to the floor, shaking and quivering, and clearly in distress. Yet she seemed functional on her walk later today and pooped twice, so that's a good sign. Now, she's just sleeping. I'm watching her closely just in case things worsen and I need to take her to the vet.