How Hip-Hop Dancing Helped Me Thrive During Busy Season
“I need more stank face, Jenn. And more energy. You’re not doing it full-out. Let’s try one more time.”
Q shouted into my computer screen with the kind of contagious enthusiasm only a true dancer can deliver. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and tried to catch my breath, cheeks flushed and heart pounding.
My toddler wandered in and out of the room in her usual wobbly way, curious what her mom was doing on a quiet Sunday afternoon while the world outside remained paused by a pandemic.
For a moment, my thoughts drifted to the unopened emails waiting on my work laptop—the usual chaos of audit busy season. But I did my best to push them aside and let myself be fully in this 90-minute window of “me time.”
I tuned back into the music, watching my hip hop instructor navigate his tiny home studio—aka his NYC apartment. I tried again. I summoned my inner warrior and dropped into the beat, letting my body move with rhythm, strength, and just enough funk to make the choreography mine.
As a pre-professional dancer, picking up choreography had once been second nature. I’d even dreamed of becoming a choreographer back in my teens. But now, with a couple of years off and a body that had been in audit chairs more than on dance floors, keeping up with the twenty-somethings took effort.
Still—I was having so much fun. There was energy, expression, release. And even though hip hop wasn’t my most natural style, it transported me somewhere else.
When the class ended, I recorded a short video to review the routine later. And something strange happened. That foggy, overloaded brain I’d been dragging around? It felt clear. My open mental tabs had closed. Later that evening, I returned to my work with fresh focus. What would have taken hours came together quickly—without the usual stress.
That dance class I almost skipped because “every hour counts during busy season”? It turned out to be one of the keys to my success.
When I later went through my advanced neuroscience coaching training, it all clicked.
Our brains have two primary networks: the task-positive network, which helps us stay focused and goal-oriented (hello, busy season productivity), and the default mode network, which activates when we let our minds wander—on a walk, in the shower, during a dance class. This is the space where insights strike and creativity flows.
Once I understood that, I didn’t just keep dancing—I made it a practice. And I discovered something powerful: when we regularly step away from the grind, we don’t fall behind. We leap forward—with clarity, creativity, and ease.
So, if you’re deep in your own version of busy season—work, parenting, caretaking, or just life—I invite you to carve out a few minutes to let your mind and body move. Dance. Walk. Breathe. Let yourself play. Not because it’s frivolous—but because it’s strategic.
How can you introduce some play into your week? Share in the comments.
Because the world needs who you were made to be.
