Calling your inner 13 year old…come out & play!

Many of you who have been to DDPP before know that sometimes you just gotta let your inner 13 year old out….she needs to PLAY!  You know, the one who puts her hair in a pigtail, grabs a brush, puts on her favorite pj’s and sings/dances her little heart when her favorite song comes on the radio.  It is kind of like this:

Or this:

Or more like this…which by the way is one of the best videos on the interwebs ever.  If you don’t think so, you might actually be dead inside (just saying!). 

Plus, listen to what Happiness says about dancing…it is so true!  Trust me when I say dj Sassybrass took me & the other ladies to that 13 yr old place.  She beckon our inner chica out & begged us to come play with her ever so fantastic mix.  She tried to play it off by saying she just didn’t have it all together & she had to rush to put the playlist together.  PASHAW!  It was killer as my legs and lungs can attest to.   I sang & danced my heart out and let the inner teenager out to play.  Sassybrass had us dancing, shouting, telling us we were beautiful, reminding us that we are STRONG and of course asking us to call her maybe (digits please!).  Check for yourself & see if your inner 13 year yearns to come & play:

Knock, Knock…is your inner 13 year old there?

 

How hot WAS it?!?!

In her intro last Wednesday night, DJ Lonestar clarified that she had actually ramped DOWN the intensity of her mix for fear that otherwise she’d give us all heat stroke. To which I must respond,

Let me back up. Believe you me, there was probably no one in that studio happier than I was to realize that the air conditioner was working like a charm that night. The last couple of DDPP’s I’d felt more like this little guy:

Out of her concern for all of us, then, DJ Lonestar reassured the crowd of eleven excited ladies that she’d dubbed this her “Hot as Balls Mix,” designed with a couple of extra mid-tempo numbers to keep us from going TOO crazy and injuring ourselves. At the risk of repeating myself…

DJ Lonestar, if this is your idea of being easy on us, I am downright scurred of what you’ll get up to when autumn and winter come around! To quote den mother DJ Sex Frosting, who was absent that night, “I literally wanted to punch! myself! in the FACE! when I saw what I missed dancing to.” We’re glad Amy didn’t have to resort to violence, but I can understand the inclination, as this mix had folks tearing around the room with reckless abandon mere minutes in. I would like to offer my own personal thanks for the James song (the NINETIES!!!!) and for our DJ’s courage in bringing those wonderful freaky weirdos Animal Collective back to the DDPP studio. I’d missed watching people figure out how to dance to their trippy tunes, I honestly had. But finally, and perhaps most importantly, DAMN, did this lady find some hot remixes and mashups for her playlist! Don’t believe me? Look for YOSELF:

 

We’ll consider ourselves warned, DJ Lonestar, for when the weather starts to turn and you hopefully greet us with another one of your scorchin’ hot mixes!

Who You Callin’ A 40-year-old?!

Unity. DJ U.N.I.T.Y. Proof that age ain’t nothin’ but a number. Would you even believe that this fountain of youth turned 40 on Monday?

I wouldn’t either. But according to her, she did. And our den mother did it in STYLE. Her birthday playlist just happened to be her 10th mix, which made it a best-of playlist!! True serendipity. And the extreme heat in the room didn’t stop our dedicated dancers from shaking it for all it was worth! Even without AC in the studio, our fantastic group of women took Unity’s love of booty shaking to the next level (as well as the art of sweating…).  And this beautiful collection of greatest DJ U.N.I.T.Y. hits was the inspiration:

DJ U.N.I.T.Y., I think Rick James says it best…Unity’s what’s missing in our lives.  

Oh, and of course…my girl wants to party (and clap) all the time.

Girl, I’m pretty sure Rick James stole his wig from you! How do you feel about that?

Happy birthday, lady! Your dancin’ spirit is ageless!

 

(And shout out to den mother emeritus Kelley Clink for the amazing pictures!)

 

Happy birthday to us!

Ladies, ladies, ladies…where do I begin such an epic post as this one? On Sunday, June 10th, DDPP Chicago celebrated our 5th birthday party like any other normal 5 year old- with uninhibited dancing, pointy party hats, cake, pizza, and beer. What? You  guys didn’t drink craft beer at YOUR 5th birthday party? ANyway…I’m sure that many of you reading this here blog feel the same way as I do- how to put into words the impact that DDPP has had  on countless women’s lives? I say we let some of the pictures from that day speak for themselves:

And what we somehow unfortunately DIDN’T capture on film was that not only were all the current den mothers in attendance for the celebration, but the originators of  DDPP Chicago, its true den mamas, the ones that gave birth to the magic- The Jenns were also in attendance! It was truly a family affair. Not only did we decide to give everyone that showed up a little birthday gift of our own by making that day free for everyone, we were also ALL treated to the first-ever 90 minute DDPP Chicago playlist! Much like DDPP itself, this playlist from 2007 proved itself to be truly timeless:

Here’s to exactly what the cake said so eloquently: 5 years of no judgement, no boys, no booze…booty shaking, hand clapping,  foot stomping dance goodness!

I mean, you know you’ve had an effect on the world when someone writes a mediocre song about you (and posts an even MORE mediocre “video” onYouTube to accompany it)!

Yes, DDPP Chicago has made an indelible mark on all of us- Jenns, thank you for being the crazy-ass visionaries that you are. Because you live, we danced.

Bird is the Word…

….And the word is HALF GAY!

We had an amazing class on Wednesday DJ’ed by one of our veteran DDPP’ers DJ AWOL!

She warned us that her mix was “a little gay” and we were happier than a rainbow on a beautiful day during GAY PRIDE MONTH to dance our fairy asses off!

A generous dose of realness was required in that hot-as-an-oven studio as we flitted and flopped to some serious power jams. Who needs A/C when you have a room full of lovely revelers committed to working out all of the stresses of the day with 14 of their friends?

I couldn’t help but think of the annoying yet catchy Family Guy spoof of “Bird is the Word” where our favorite deadbead Dad obsesses over this song in his own chubby way:

Here is the playlist, y’all!

HAPPY PRIDE TO ALL!

Around the world with DJ Cake or Death

DJ Cake or Death loaded up a playlist full of international treasures and took us for a trip around the world on Sunday!

We went to France!

Sweden!

Japan!

And lots more!

After all that travel, we were a bunch of pooped puppies

And then she hit us with a last fast song will be stuck in your head for days! Even just seeing the name might be enough to trigger uncontrollable da-ba-dee-ing.

And you thought Call Me Maybe was catchy

Thanks for taking us around the world in 60 minutes, Cake or Death!