Choreography I'm Loving Right Now

Brain goes off—dance videos go on. Some recent favorites.

Published January 13, 2025

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see also: camp counselor

Over the past few years, a lot of my identity was dominated by "being a writer."

Writing a book takes a lot of time, stupid willpower, and general willingness to be utterly consumed, so I indulged the corners of my more writerly identity. And, you know, we tend to introduce ourselves by our careers, and I'm also a journalist and book reviewer. How I introduce myself has a lot to do with the context and who's asking.

But I'd also say I'm an ex-dancer. No longer. Realistically, I could have made the time to head to a class on-island, but energy was in low supply anyway. That would have to wait.

I decided that two of my goals for 2025 included going around the island more (as I've gotten pretty into the "bubble" of North Shore living) and to engaging more in my non-productive hobbies that don't directly contribute to my output or success. Actual, literal hobbies. I love doing a whole lot of different activities, but it's hard once they cross that line to enjoy them in a way more divorced from perfectionism.

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I did realize that I have a harder time mentally picking up skills that I used to be good at than new skills. It's easier for me to start fresh and attempt to achieve mastery in a new pursuit rather than to encounter the frustrating mismatch of no longer having the same ability in something I used to love—even if, like dance, it's a "pure" hobby I have no hope of possibly spinning, monetizing, or achieving the level I want. Part of why I hadn't gone to classes was likely just because I didn't want to feel bad at something I used to feel at least decent at. But that's dumb and frankly cowardly.

Psychologically, it's likely good for me to encounter the humility and patience a restart takes. That's probably what "real" love of something is anyway: the decision to do it anyway even though it won't feel good or feed my ego at first.

Studies show that if you want to keep up with something, you should take on the identity. Ex: it's better for me and my habit to call myself a dancer who hasn't danced in a while rather than a non-dancer. The effects are amplified in groups, too. I used to teach dance classes in college, and teaching also intensified my love for it. When my brain goes off, the dance videos go on. My guilty pleasure, absolutely.

Anyway, more on that to come, but over the weekend, my developer added the ability for me to embed code directly into my blog posts, which means I can finally share videos of my favorite dances and whatnot directly—and footnotes too, which are going to turn me into an absolute menace on all my book reviews.

For now, I just wanted to share some dances I saw recently that made me absolutely relish the pursuit and get excited to take class. People are so cool, and so intensely talented. I do not look like any of these dancers, but I absolutely love trying to.

Some Dances I Love!!!!

Espresso — Matt Steffanina Choreo

Admittedly, I'm hit-or-miss on Matt Steffanina but appreciate how crispy he is.

It's ok I'm ok — Kyle Hanagami Choreo

Kyle Hanagami is a little more up my alley in terms of Millennium Dance Complex choreographers because jazz funk will always get me, and Tate Mcrae has been a companion on my runs lately. (Also, she got her start in the competition dance world; she's an immensely talented dancer, so I have a lot of respect for how she honors that in her performances.)

Lovely — Paris Cavanaugh Choreo

I watched and loved Dance Life this year on a plane—and I never really love docuseries in that way—and love the Brent Street set of choreographers. Also, I forgot this song until this video popped up for me, and I'm weak for anything with an undercurrent of strings.

'The Feels' — Galen Hooks Freestyle Roulette

This is a longer video, but Galen Hooks has such an intriguing concept, and runs (or used to—I'd have to check after 2020) these freestyle roulette workshops in major cities in which she dove into a lot of the craft of dancing. Across categories like 'The Feels' (roughly contemporary), a dancer would draw a song and a prompt, and basically be on the spot to improv in accordance. And these iterations live rent-free in my head, truly. I revisit them frequently.

After Hours — Alexander Chung Choreo

This is several months in by now, but there's probably not a single dance of Alexander Chung's that I do not absolutely love. It gets the hip hop dancers, the jazz funk-ers (my domain), and everyone has such an expressive spin on it. This song was an earworm of mine for straight weeks after seeing this for the first time.


1.

See Anatomy of a Breakthrough by Adam Alter—and really, all of his research, because he talks about this in Drunk Tank Pink too.

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