9 LADIES DANCING

I love to dance.  I'm not sure where the passion began, but when I look at my wiggly two year old and see his desire to shake his body to almost anything that has a beat, it makes me wonder if it's something that is just inside of us.  And when do we start to forget?  At any rate, whenever I'm down, a tiny dance party really does help.  Even a party of one.  Of course, with friends is the BEST EVER, followed by with your kids as a close second.  Personally, I do love dancing with my husband, but cutting a rug with my lady friends somehow always feels a little more epic.  So in light of this, here are a few nods to some of my favorite dance moves/films/moments/songs over the past few, uh, decades:

1. FLASHDANCE.  It simply doesn't get anymore dance epic than this.  Both in terms of film and soundtrack.  And it's often streamable on your Netflix most any time.  Habitual readers, do you see a trend here?  What would my life be without Roku?

2. Move Your Feet by Danish duo Junior Senior.  Gets me going every time!

3.  Abundance which is the title track of this album by Detroit's PPP.  Amazing lyrics, amazing message, amazing beat.  Who could want more?

4.  This documentary which is available via, yes, Netflix, is a change of pace in terms of the dance theme.  It's full of eye candy, and fun to reflect on the fabulous life of Carine Roitfeld.  Not a critical success, but totally entertaining.  I loved seeing her do straight up ballet in her Paris apartment.  Makes me psyched about the possibility of life in my sixties!

5. This dance inspired unitard.  I wore the hell out of one like it from American Apparel a few years back.  It looks cool with stuff over it, it feels cool to have under clothing, and I loved wearing it in the frigid German winter a few years back because it was a warm base layer that seemed way sexier than my thermals.

6. Maybe this dance workout so I could look really awesome in said unitard.  I've eyed it with interest and suspicion over the past few years.  Admittedly it would take a lot more dance workouts and a lot fewer doughnut eating sessions to get me in dancer shape, but what a lovely thing to think about while sweating away.

7.  This Sesame Street video that got my kids and I killing it in our living room the other morning.  It's one of my faves and it was fun to see my little ones inspired to bust a few moves to such a great message.

8.  What dance inspired post of mine would not be complete without a shout out to the person who reflects the latent star in all of us with so much humor and, uh, grace.  So here's to Molly Shannon and her incredible Mary Katherine Gallagher.

9.  And finally, this classic trailer from the dance movie that started it all for so many ladies in my generation.  Was the movie "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" also the required video for all of your girlhood slumber parties?  I'm convinced that this movie and the masses of young girls obsessed with it was how Sarah Jessica Parker first worked her way into the Gen X pscyhe.  So put on your spandex and legwarmers, and enjoy this festive 80s treat: