to a life beyond waiting. (announcing my first book!)

A philosophy I live by, which ties into the founding philosophy of the Creative Fridays blog you’re reading, is this:

Don’t wait for someone to give you permission.

You make your own rules.

You create your life.

(Start with Fridays.)

I started this blog over 4 years ago on a Friday because I was tired of living by someone else’s rules. I wanted to be an artist, a writer. I wanted to dance. I wanted dance to have a more significant role in my life. And I didn’t want to wait until I had saved up money for a 6-month sabbatical, or until I was ready to audition for some kind of dance company, or until I got the stamp of approval of an M.F.A.

I wanted to change my life and career.

So I started writing and sharing it, as I continued to dance and make dance videos.

Fast forward a few years later, and my life had gradually and then fully changed.

But there was still a holding pattern at work beneath the surface.

You see, somewhere throughout the last couple of years I pieced together my writing in the form of a book. I knew the title, had the vision of what it would look like, would even tell people about it here and there.

But I didn’t do anything with this book for 2 YEARS.

I was waiting for the “right” time to release it.

I was waiting til my email list was 5 times the size it is now.

I was waiting til I had the time to create a proper proposal so that I could get a real book deal.

All of these reasons are totally valid.

But then I stopped waiting.

And I decided to put it out there. Self-published. Today. On my 33rd birthday, on a Friday the 13th.

I share this with you for 2 reasons.

1. Because you might really love this book - ok, you WILL really love this book - and there’s a way for you get the first chapter for free today AND to pre-order the entire thing.

2. Because I hope you’ll use it as inspiration to stop waiting on whatever YOUR excuses are. Whether it’s a book, a movie script, or a trip to Marrakech, stop waiting and just do it. Take the first step. Be bold. The world needs to hear it if your desire to make it is there.

So, back to this book.

I wrote this book for the artists trapped inside someone else’s expectations.

I wrote this book for the dancers who stopped prematurely or never let themselves start.

I wrote this book for you if you want to bring dance back into your life - literally or figuratively.

The name of this book is quite simple:

DANCE WITH THIS BOOK.

Because that’s really what it’s about.

It’s not rocket-science. It’s not based on a thesis project or years of research.

It is practical, packed with inspirational punch, and designed to get you up off your butt and dancing.

It’s designed to be that book that you pick up off the shelf at Barnes & Noble while you’re shopping for a birthday card for your friend’s kid, and it catches your eye and you end up reading it cover to cover as you stand there in the aisle, bursting inside with YES! because it’s exactly what you needed to hear on that day. And you leave Barnes & Noble with a skip in your step, smiling at strangers as you dance with them in your head - or in reality. Because it makes you remember. Who you are. That you are here to dance.

You can grab the first chapter and pre-order this book here.

$5 gets you the e-book.

$13 gets you the print book.

$33 gets you 3 print books.

The prices will go up after today - these are birthday prices on 5/13! - so lock it in if you want it.

Bottom line: this book is about reclaiming dance and reclaiming life in YOUR OWN WAY. It’s not about trying to fit into the mold that someone or something else wants you to be.

You don’t have to be a “dancer” in the traditional sense to read this and benefit from it. You just have to want something more, a way to express yourself in this world and connect to your body.

You might be drawn to specific styles of dance, or you might be drawn to discovering your natural movement.

You might want to get back in shape, or maybe you just want to reshape your life and you don’t know where else to start.

Perhaps you just want to be more active and feel more joy on a daily basis.

Whatever your reasons, you’re here to dance with this book, right?

Let’s do it.

Get your copy/copies here and I’ll send you your book in August or as soon as it’s ready.

to life beyond waiting,

Jess

p.s. Although I've been sitting on this book for 2 years, the whole process of deciding to get it out there today happened pretty spontaneously. I don't have a marketing plan, I don't have a fancy new website, I barely even told the people in my life I was doing this until today. If the book excites you, or if you've been getting value from my weekly Creative Fridays notes, please feel free to share this with people in your life and let's spread the love and accessibility of dance to the people who need to hear it.

Link to share: http://eepurl.com/b1xXTP

when you've got nothing to say...

I write to you from the depths of the creative void. It’s not an easy place to write from because there’s really nothing here. It’s Darkness. Emptiness. Mystery.  

I racked my brain trying to think of something profound to say on the blog this week, and then realized that I just needed to surrender to the nothingness that I felt.

You see, this void is a natural part of the creative process.

We’re not always supposed to be producing new things and creating masterpieces.

Sometimes we’re just meant to be still and listen and let the mystery hold us.

For it’s in those moments of stillness that we can connect to new parts of ourselves, integrate experiences on a subconscious level, and stay open to the whispers of the creative muse.

It can be vulnerable and scary to be in the unknown, to not know when it will end, and that’s where we have to activate our trust muscles.

After winter, comes spring... After a creative winter, comes a creative spring awakening.

From that space of emptiness, the dark cold winter, the void... that’s where creation happens without us trying to make it happen.

So for this Creative Friday, I encourage you to check in with your own creative void.

Let yourself do nothing. Surrender to the mystery. (Even if it’s a busy time for you, give yourself the gift of a short period of nothingness.)

For all you fellow moon lovers, it’s actually perfect timing, since today is the New Moon - the time of the month when the sky is completely black, the moon totally hidden from view. It’s naturally the time to be in the void and not take action.

I sense there’s a whole lot of light and creative activity in our futures, so we might as well embrace this moment of pause.

Imma get back to my void for now, and I look forward to hearing about yours, too. Feel free to comment below and share how it’s going for you.

in the mystery with you,

Jess

how to let the creative muse in

Sometimes your creativity doesn’t make sense.

Like when you’re supposed to be “working,” but you start making up poems.

Or when you’re on a writing deadline, but the urge to dance it out comes over you.

Or when you finally set aside time to write/paint/sing/dance, but all you want to do is lie on the floor and cry.

Those moments may not make sense, but follow them anyway. For those are the moments when the creative muse has taken over.

It happens when you least expect it.

You might squelch it without realizing it.

You can’t predict when it will happen or for how long.

So how do you let the muse in and find your creative flow?

You listen.

You listen to yourself and to the impulses and creative urges that tug at your sleeve, like a child wanting to play with you.

You stay curious.

You experiment and follow the impulses with curiosity, as if someone had planned the most fancy surprise date and is leading you towards the next destination.

You clear the crap that’s in the way.

You stop tolerating the unrealistic workload that’s being thrown on you at the office. You start making house rules that guarantee you’ll have time and space to yourself. You recognize the habits you’re becoming too reliant on (ahem, Facebook scrolling? Netflix?) and you start to let them go so that you can face the thing you’re most scared to face: yourself and your creative potential.

It’s that delicate balance of planning to have creative time, and also being open to the happy accidents (bow to Bob Ross) that pop up along the way.

Your creativity might not make sense all the time, and that’s exactly why you should listen to it and let it lead the way.

Making too much sense makes for a boring and predictable life.

Outside of sensibility is where the magic happens.

wishing you wonder, flow, and senseless joy,

Jess

p.s. Part of my non-sense this week has been writing poems. Didn’t realize it happens to be National Poetry Month – it must’ve been the creative muse who knew first! Here's one I'd like to share:

Could it be that all along

I was on a path, but it was wrong.

The work I did, the daily grind

Was all in vain and not aligned.

Could it be that even though

It wasn’t perfect, it helped me grow.

Each and every time I tried,

Something grew and something died.

Could it all be part of a plot

That I once wrote and soon forgot.

For maybe it was meant to be

Exactly what would set me free.

- Jess Grippo 4/27/16

how to access your full confidence & expression when you dance

Back in my ballet years, the biggest criticism I’d get from teachers is that I wasn’t emotive or expressive enough. My technique was solid, but it was too rigid and technical and was missing that oomph, that spirit, that passion from within.

I tried soooo hard to figure this piece out:

Pushing harder in the studio.

Journaling about my frustrations.

Even experimenting with sex, just because I thought it would open up feelings in me that would make my dancing better. (you didn’t hear that, Mom.)

The problem was that I was trying to “figure it out.” All I cared about was the end goal: being good enough to be accepted into a ballet company.

I wasn’t aware that dancing could also be about MY experience, MY freedom, MY body, MY joy in movement.

It took me leaving the dance world for YEARS to discover this on my own.

And that’s exactly why I seek out every moment I can to dance freely. Now that I’ve discovered it’s possible, I just want to do it and share it all the time.

That’s also why I created my upcoming You Can Dance Again program.

Since I discovered the freedom in dancing for myself, I wanted to share the process with you, my fellow dancer, because I realized I was not alone in the desire to feel fully expressed and free in movement. And I know that there aren’t many dance classes and venues out there that nurture this kind of process.

I’ll share more about the dance program shortly, but first I want to share a story of contrast from those ballet days…

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, which happens to be almost 14 years after leaving the ballet world:

As I galloped down the stairs of the West 4th subway station (the same station I would travel through daily during my days at the Joffrey Ballet School) I heard drum beats. Without thinking, I b-lined it over to the drummers and just went for it.

I danced it out right there on the subway platform, with my backpack on and belly full of just-eaten falafel sandwich.

I started dancing because my body had to.

It was coming from a deep place within my gut and soul. And although people were watching around me, I knew it wasn't about the performance. It was more like a worship - I felt so deeply connected to something outside myself and within myself at the same time. The beat of the drum flowed so deeply through me that I surrendered to it and lost track of what was happening around me.

As the song came to a close and the F train arrived, I shook hands with the drummers, exchanging big smiles and words of thanks. And then a woman who had been watching us dropped a dollar into their bucket and put another dollar into my hand while looking me in the eyes saying, “Thank you.”

I accepted the dollar and almost cried.

It felt radical to me.

In all the years I had trained hard and bled my toes in the ballet world, there were only rare moments when I felt so sparked up doing it, or when I received money from a kind stranger’s hand for it.

Thinking back to those early years of dance in my life, I would never imagine myself dancing freely on a subway platform.

What shifted?

(And what could help YOU if you’re seeking a similar kind of release in your life, body or dancing?)

In short:

• I stopped focusing on the end goal of a ballet company.
• I experienced the messiness of life: pain, love, loss, and all that jazz.
• I finally learned how to seek my own joy, rather than what I was expected to be happy with.
• I developed the courage to try and the willingness to fall.
• I waited until the moment when I HAD to dance again from deep inside of my soul. (Not when my brain thought I “should.”)

And then I just danced. And danced again. Because I felt like it.

There are energies inside of me now that I didn’t yet have access to in my ballet days.

From the perspective I have now, I’ve started to see what those energies are. I’m really excited that I get to experience them now AND share them with my dance students and clients.

Having gone through the feelings of frustration, restriction, and paralyzing perfection in my younger years, it’s one of my biggest passions to help other dancers and creators bust free of those kinds of restraints.

If the idea of discovering your own hidden dance powers is exciting - and maybe even a bit scary...

If you crave more self-expression and confidence on and off the dance floor,  the confidence to really free yourself while you’re dancing, to not just learn the steps but to really dance it out and give it your flavor of expression…

...keep reading.

I welcome you to step into a 4-week dance experience that I created just for you, both online from anywhere in the world and live in NYC.

It combines deep and reflective inner exploration with pure joy and fun.

It’s about connecting to parts of you that have been hidden or yet undiscovered, and then making something with them.

It’s about dance. Your dance. The way YOU dance. The way you WANT to dance. The way you don’t even know you’re capable of dancing yet.

You can find more specific details here:: http://youcandanceagain.com

This experience is for any level of dancer. Sometimes having no dance training is an advantage in this kind of thing, because you have less preconceived notions of what your body should be doing. All you need is a desire to have fun, explore your inner world, feel free and empowered, and dance. it. out.

One more thing to close this baby up -

Whatever might be up for you in life right now, remember that your body is meant to move and speak and dance through it.

When those random moments of impulse to move strike, follow them! You might not want to bust out moves on the subway platform, but your living room or best friend’s kitchen is just as good.

Dance is way more than being able to kick your leg up high or do those fancy flip moves you see people doing on So You Think You Can Dance.

Dance is more about what’s inside of you than what your outside form does.

Dance will not only free you in the moment you’re dancing, but it will free you in your life as it lifts and shifts your mood and helps you feel more connected to yourself and to others.

Dance is available to all of us, anywhere.

Just dance it.

to the beat inside of you,

Jess

Why dance? Why now?

It’s clear that our world is in a challenged state: war, global warming, crazy politics, tragedies...

Why take the time to dance and explore your inner landscape when that is the case?

Because change starts with you.

The suppression of feminine energy in our world has been a huge part of the global crisis we are in, and I believe it’s through reawakening that feminine energy inside of us that we are going to find a way out of it.

In this same crazy and challenged world, why are pop-stars worshipped?

Sure, they are beautiful and sexy and entertaining, but there’s also something much deeper at work. They are living manifestations of goddesses, channeling powerful energies and reminding us of the power inside ourselves, too. They are popping the lid off outdated standards and putting an emphasis on self-expression and liberating the female form.

THAT is why I feel that dancing along with Beyonce or Lady Gaga is a radical move.

THAT is why I choose to dance and share my dance videos.

THAT is why I’ve been in a deep process of exploring ancient goddess archetypes and the healing, powerful energy they can channel through us.

I see it as my responsibility to start the change from within me, through my body, through dance.

If you feel called to explore this kind of work in more depth, I’d love for you to join me.

In this upcoming 4-week experience, you'll be guided through exploring a handful of goddess archetypes that touch on important themes: self-worth, shadow, and creative power, as well as the integration and expression of it all through YOU and the dance you create.

We’ll look at the pop-star artists who have been channeling these goddess archetypes - whether they know it or not - and explore their styles of dance along with the weekly themes.

[button link="http://jessgrippo.com/popgoddessdance/" color="aqua" window="yes"]Read more and sign up here.[/button]

Feel free to private message me if you have any questions or want to chat more before signing up.

I truly feel that this is one of the most powerful and exciting programs I’ve created, and I’m really jazzed about getting it to share it with a group of conscious, creative, powerful women.

Let’s do this!

when the music stops, create your own

When the theater hands you lemons - i.e. losing your music track, leaving you on stage in silence for close to a minute and then playing the wrong track at the finale moment- you make improvised Flashdance lemonade.

In my case it involved asking them to stop the music and instead SINGING the lyrics to the song that went missing - "What A Feeling" - while I danced it, only to have the audience chime in with me and dance on stage.

(if you're short on time, skip to the 4:40 mark to see the music mishap moment)

The prequel to this story is how I started taking singing lessons with my friend Ruth Levy back in early February. I was gearing up to do more Broadway/musical theater auditions and wanted to attempt to learn how to sing. (It never was my strong point!)

The song we worked on?

"What A Feeling."

I ended up not getting far enough in the auditions to actually have to sing (thank goddess because I was terrified of it) but there was something powerful about learning the notes and the lyrics to this song I've danced to so many times, this song that had inspired me years ago to return to dance.

At that moment on stage when I realized this very song track was not going to be played, I knew I had to make it happen myself. It was already in me.

So I sang it. On stage for the first time ever. In front of 200 people.

My pitch and tone was way off for the most part, but I let it rip and had fun. And just when I started to lose my breath I heard my friend Jaclyn chime in from the audience, followed by everyone else belting it out with us.

We sang it as a group as I encouraged people from the audience onto stage to dance with me, as you can see in the video.

 

For whatever reason, it wasn't in the stars for me to win and move onto the finals, but what happened up there feels like a win in my book.

It reminds me, and I'll remind you -

You never know what you've actually  been preparing for until that crazy moment happens. Keep preparing anyway.

Whatever kind of lemons are being thrown your way, your own flavor of lemonade is better than anything you could've planned for.

Dance with what you're given, and you may even discover a new facet of your voice along the way.

to dancing and singing it out,

Jess

p.s. The show must go on. I'm committed to finding another way of making it happen - on or off Broadway! Hope to see you at opening night.

p.p.s. Doors are now officially open to You Can Dance Again, my 4-week program designed to awaken your inner dancer and help you own your dance even more powerfully. I would love to welcome you into this experience! It starts on April 25th. Details and registration here.

how I got through fear of being judged (and how you can do the same)

In the midst of rehearsal last week (for NY’s Got Talent) with my dance partner Ben, we sat down to review a video of what we had just done.

After spending 4 weeks creating and refining this 4-minute dance piece, it was finally really coming together.

Ben said to me, “I think we have an act!”

I agreed and we both acknowledged how fun and soul-fulfilling the entire process had been.

“Do you think it will land with other people? Will they like it?” I asked.

After a beat, Ben said (as I thought the same thing to myself), “I don’t really care if they do or not.”

That about summed it up.

In that moment, we felt such immense gratitude for the magical creative process and how nourishing and inspiring it was, that it really didn’t matter what an outside judge thought. We were having so. much. fun. And that was enough.

Fast forward a week or so to this past Wednesday, roughly 2 hours before showtime.

This is me in a Periscope confessional, freaking out about how terrible I thought it was going to be:

I couldn’t shake the funk I was in. It was like my brain switched into the mode where everything sucks and it’s the end of the world because no one will understand what we are doing and it won’t fit in and I just feel so raw and exposed to be sharing something I created with the world in this way and blah blah.

Even though I intellectually knew that it was my inner critical voice talking, the despair still felt so real.

I felt this was worth mentioning here on the blog, because often you only get to see the final product of what artists are creating. It can be misleading to think that everybody who makes work or performs something is totally confident in what they’re doing and never has doubts.

From my perspective as a creativity coach, I’ve seen so many clients come to me who have been creatively paralyzed for YEARS because of these fears, sometimes not even realizing that it’s this very fear of being judged that is the thing holding them back from doing what they really want to do. (It’s more easy to blame it on the fact that work and life are just so busy and there’s no time anymore for creativity, am I right?!)

If I was in a workshop or a 1-1 session with you, I’d ask you more about your own creative dreams and take you through a process of identifying your fears and moving through them, but alas, this is a blog post, so I’ll continue with my story in hopes that it helps you out.

Here are the steps I took after the moments of heavy-duty doubting and despair -

(which I highly recommend for the next time you’re in a similar funk!)

1. I cried.

2. I got a pep talk from a friend.

3. I took a dance break in a bathroom stall.

We then launched into a run-through of the show with all the acts, which also helped immensely because I got out of my own narrow-minded view that it was all about me. I was in tears hearing my fellow contestants sing and juggle frisbees so beautifully.

And then the audience arrived, the show began, and it was finally our time to go on stage, the last act of the show. Once again, I had returned to that place of joy and we were ready to rock.

This is what happened:

I really had the time of my life.

I don’t know if there was ever a time where I felt more like myself on stage.

The cherry on top was getting to talk more about my mission and about the work I want to continue creating - not just for me, but for the dancers out there who are craving a space like this in which they can be themselves and dance their dance, too.

It all comes full circle.

So, the story is far from over. Semi-Finals are next week and I have to come up with a whole new act for that (and probably go through a similar process again of feeling like it’s crap and then getting judged with the risk that it might just be crap in their eyes).

In the bigger picture outside of this competition, the journey is just unfolding.

And here’s where you come in -

There is work to be done and dance opportunities to be created.

And I don’t want to go forward in it alone.

I want you to join me.

 

I want the dancers and creators who feel that calling deep down in their heart and soul, regardless of if you’ve had the courage yet to return to it.

I want the fears and the tears and the magical moments of surrender.

I want the DANCE. The kind of dance that moves you deeply.

Like I mentioned at the show, my You Can Dance Again program was created for this purpose. To bring re-emerging dancers together and provide a safe space for you to find your rhythm once again, explore your movement, collaborate and connect with amazing people, and create awesome things.

Even if you didn’t make the cut at that audition years ago,

Even if you stopped taking lessons because of more practical life events,

Even if someone once told you your body type was not “ideal” for dancing,

Doesn’t mean you can’t dance.

Oh.

You CAN dance again.

Believe me.

If you have that calling deep in your soul to dance,

If you also don’t want to go about it alone,

If you recognize the value in guidance from someone who’s been there,

I invite you into a special opportunity with me.

Today doors officially open to the next round of my You Can Dance Again program, and this year I sense it’s going to be the most powerful one yet.

It combines really meaningful inner exploration with pure joy and fun.

It’s about connecting to parts of you that have been hidden or yet undiscovered, and then making something with them.

It’s about dance. Your dance. The way YOU dance. The way you WANT to dance. The way you don’t even know you’re capable of dancing yet.

Before you click through to read all about it, a few things you should know:

1. If you register before this coming Monday night 4/11, you’ll save $100 on the cost of the program. It’s a special incentive because I wanted to make it easy for you to say yes and make space for dance NOW - not later, once you do the million other things on your to-do list.

2. There’s an option to participate in the virtual/online version as well as the in-person in NYC version. This means, it doesn’t matter where you live - this dance program is accessible to you. People in the virtual programs in the past have made huge steps in their dancing life because of the support and guidance given here.

3. This program in particular is for women and female-identified people (or those wanting to explore their feminine side). Not all of my dance programs are women-only, but this one is. If you’re a manly dude and you want to dance, my partner Ben might have something for you.

Got it? Great!

Click through here for all the details and to claim your spot: http://jessgrippo.com/popgoddessdance/

And remember -

The scariest part - with any creative venture - is taking the first step. Once you commit, the ride begins and you realize that it was totally worth facing your fears because of the magic that comes from it.

to dancing your dance,

Jess