Happy Dances Around the World | International Day of Happiness!

It's the first day of spring!

"Where?!" my better half asks--and I have no clue because it sure isn't Minnesota! In any case it's also the International Day of Happiness as declared by the U.N.:

...recognizing the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives.

Basically it's important for people to be happy. (I can guarantee you that if I had dragged out a sentence like that for any one of my professors there would be "happy" red ink all over it.) Obvio. Break out the happy dancing.

Starting with Bordeaux, France:



Click to 1:00 at the very least. Scrubs! Dancing in scrubs!

This next one is from KickAsh's YouTube channel, aka Ashley Williams. I love that she's so herself and her dancing is organic. My favorite is when she does the dancing-in-the-street bit around 1:28. I'm not sure what it is about dancing right where traffic should go, but I love it. I secretly dance in the middle of the street on my early morning runs. So if I suddenly stop posting one day, it'll probably have been death by happy dance.

If you click over to the video on YouTube someone comments that the video made him/her happy and Ashley replies that made it worth making. Awwww! I am a sucker for this sort of mush.



As I was compiling these I found a whole bunch of videos from just about anywhere you can think of. Check out this one from Tahiti--ugghh, Tahiti! Now I just want to leave Minnesota and never return. There is dancing in the street, belly dancing, and the obligatory ballerina. Kudos to French Polynesia's YouTube channel, it's working! *Packs bags.*



One more--Boston College. Even the mascot got in on this! I have to wonder about the library scenes though--did they have a lookout? Because I know I would have racked up some fines or at least a death stare at mine. Books and dancing. I'm happy!



What I love most is that so many of the videos to Happy are different people, some of which are amazing dancers and some dance all over the place, like me. That makes my heart glad--people just putting their soul into it and letting go. Because they're happy.

Happy Wishes: Mood Music

Technically Mood Music is posted every other Monday, but today I wanted to share this anyways.

A little ray of happiness:



This song makes me want to go running through the neighborhood with a boom box on my shoulder. I hope you listen to this over and over. Soak it up. Instead of some wrecking ball sex mess, this is what I want to see all over the internet and on the air waves.

A huge hug to my beloved Flexines. I hope you are dancing-in-the-street happy today!

Mood Music: Mondays are for Fighters

Just one more rep. Just one more minute. For us pole dancers, music helps us get one more attempt at a trick or one more climb before we call it a day. I will honestly tell you that I cannot workout without music and dancing is just ridiculous without it. I typically have at least a few songs for every mood--even various types of music just for stretching.

Hello Mood Music Mondays!

My goal is to share a few songs every other Monday, sometimes more often, that fit into a specific mood. The kind of songs that personally help me run an extra twenty minutes or attempt *gasp* spin mode. To give you an idea a couple of my themes so far are "black lace on sweat" and "so fed up."

This week is about being a FIGHTER




Fighter

You already know I love Christina Aguilera and this song is a huge part of that love. What better way to get back at your pole for being so slippery than: "Thanks for making me a fighter." If you aren't familiar with Fighter by Christina Aguilera, go fix that now and preview at iTunes within the widget above.

Stronger

I have not gotten over this once since I first loved it in 2007. That was a rough year for me and this helped me survive by running... if only I had known about pole too. If you hate running this is an awesome song to get over it. Stronger by Kanye West is one of my favorites for bursts of energy--case in point, that beginning!


Proud

I poled, well, did my beginner's version of poling, to this song for KiKi's Pole Dancing Scholarship some time ago. Even though I didn't win it was nice to take a risk and put myself out there in a supportive community. Very fittingly, the song is Proud by Heather Small, a remixed version for QAF. I always want to climb when I hear the lyric "What have you done today to make you feel proud," something about it reminds me of rising.

All songs can be previewed and purchased from the widget above.

What songs make you feel like a fighter? Don't forget to check back on Mondays for more Mood Music!

Photo: Adapted from "Music" by Craig Cloutier, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License