Inspiration strikes

Two weeks ago Janet Jackson appeared to me and inspired me to start this blog[i].

I was at a café and inexplicably hesitating clicking the ‘book now’ icon that would commit me to a few weeks of luxurious nothingness on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico, when I looked up, as we all seem to do when we are trying to make sense of our thoughts, and saw Ms. Jackson (sometimes I’m nasty). Taped to the window next to me was a flyer for a Janet-themed retrospective dance party that was happening two days later. My mind was cleared and I knew what to do. I sent an apologetic email to the boat, posted the event on my Facebook page and started planning what to wear.

The dance party was hosted by The Fabulous Ladies of Fitness (FloF), aka J-Bo and Jyldo, DJs extraordinaire. In a mid-song chat with the Ladies that night, I discovered that FLoF is just one expression of a community of movers and dancers in Chicago whose focus is firmly fixed on fun, silliness and selectively reviving 70s-90s grooves and choreography. Jyl also told me about WERQ, a new Chicago dance-fitness class made up of hot dance moves and set to current club hits. My brain quickly connected this information with what I knew about Dance Dance Party Party (a viral ladies-only dance party collective) and step-ball-change; I had a social trend…and an inaugural blog article!

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[i] This isn’t as outrageous as it sounds; Janet has changed my life many times with her pop and r&b grooves, crazycool choreography and fierce performances. Close friends will testify to my love for “old school Janet”.