shake your booty, change your moody
/My friend Elayne is doing yoga dance on Zoom. My friend Noelle calls me, dances on Facetime, we laugh, we hang up. My niece Barrie -- who I once snuck into a disco when she was only 15 -- is always good for a bump and grind hello. Her parents did forgive me, eventually.
While making dinner, Alexa plays the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Daft Punk, Beyoncé -- whatever can add some shaking and strutting to the slicing and dicing.
Are we having fun? You bet we are, with the caveat that “Whatever gets you through the night/it’s alright, it’s alright,” thanks to John Lennon.
It’s a big topic right now -- what each of us is doing to stay resilient, to lighten up.
“Every morning I ask myself how to best get through the day,” says my friend Alison, a vaccine scientist. “I used to think about who I’m going to see and where I’m going to travel and make plans way ahead. Now I think in 24-hour segments about how I can make each day count.”
My friend Linda, a doctor, chimes in. “It’s definitely about one day at a time right now,” she says. “I was going to visit my son in Atlanta, since I’ve already had the vaccine, but I’m worried about these new variants. So instead, I’m taking a meditation weekend on Zoom.”
My neighbor Leigh has designed a new spiritual course, trying to find a quiet place in her house to deliver it, while her husband and two daughters work or take classes from home. “It’s so hard to find a tiny space for myself,” she says, “everyone is always shuffling around.”
“We need to dance,” I say, “spread our arms wide in whatever space we have.” “OMG, do we need to dance,” she agrees.
My friend Peggy, an executive coach, is hiking her glorious mountains in Santa Fe, getting outside in the bright sunshine in between Zooming her clients.
I must remind her she can also dance outdoors.
That’s what Elayne and I did on New Year’s. We dragged our mates to my outside deck to “take the peanut butter out of the jar” -- an expression for moving the hips as circuitously as possible. We sure do try but you know how sticky peanut butter and hips can be.
Elayne suggests I join her yoga dance class on Zoom. The teacher says right off, “When did you stop dancing?” telling us that to stay happy and healthy we need to keep rockin’ and rollin’. We clap and tap and pretend we’re stirring that peanut butter with our arms and we swirl scarves in the air like exotic nymphs.
“You do have to get a kick out of yourself,” says Alison, when I tell her and Linda they need to dance more, get up and be silly.
“It’s funny,” says Alison, “my daughter is home now and she’s pushing me to dance again. You’ve got to keep your mood up.”
I offer this: Shake your booty, change your moody.
When the music is loud and the night is long, you’re wearing your slippers and your hair is a fright, you can get a kick out of yourself movin’ and groovin’, even if no one in your household wants anything to do with you.
Once the dancing or wiggling or whatever you want to call it begins -- despite being cooped up, disconnected, disappointed, disillusioned, disproportionately blue -- you’re no longer just biding your time.
When you start dancing -- you’ve transformed the minute, the madness, the mood. When you start dancing -- you’re throwing off the stress, which none of us needs. When you start dancing -- you’re not just hanging out anymore. When you start dancing -- if my recollection serves me well -- you’re partying!
As I pass a mirror, I notice I’m grinning.