Missing Your Mojo? Elle Magazine’s The Movement Series Might Be All the Motivation You Need

We’re almost a full week into 2018, and despite my best efforts and intentions, it feels like something’s missing. I’ve been eating better, eschewing bad habits and getting more organized—I even started the year with a deep housecleaning. But I’ve still been feeling a little … stuck.

Then I stumbled upon a video from Elle magazine’s Facebook series, The Movement. The two-minute clip featured two dancers and a female beatboxer from my home city, Chicago, combing classical ballet and hip-hop to create their own hybrid style of dance, “Hiplet.” Watching them undulate, dip, bop and spin, I realized exactly what’s been missing from my life lately: dance.

Full disclosure: I love to dance. I can’t tell you how many nights since college I’ve spent sweating out my edges in nightclubs, taking over the dance floor with friends and strangers alike. Among my longtime crew, I’m well-known as the “Dancing Machine” (shoutout to the Jackson 5), and can be depended upon to literally dance until dawn.

If I’ve slowed down in recent years, it’s only because at 42, I’m hesitant to be the “old woman in the club.” But it looks like I’m going to have to get over it, because after going down the rabbit hole with The Movement, one thing became perfectly clear: She wants to move (shoutout to N.E.R.D.). The series features video portraits of dancers from all genres—with a healthy dose of #BlackGirlMagic sprinkled throughout.

From ballet to Beyoncé and tap dancers to a transgender vogueing legend, The Movement’s mission is one not far from our own here at The Glow Up:

Women are often judged by their appearance-by their bodies, by their skin color, by their sexuality. This video series for ELLE Magazine (US) celebrates women and their bodies through the expression of dance.

Celebratory is exactly how I felt watching the women of The Movement, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate myself this new year than to get back into my body and get my ass back out on the dance floor. Edges be damned.