COME AND DANCE WITH ME

Had to have high, high hopes for a living

Didn't know how but I always had a feeling

I was gonna be that one in a million

Always had high, high hopes

Back in those days of COVID, physical distancing, germ scrutiny, and repeating the daily mental rule of “don’t get infected”. News, journals and radio told us constantly to stay safe, to believe things would get better.

Here "Ça va bien aller", they said. But the truth? Nothing really felt ok or safe.

No human being is ever fully prepared to abandon connection or social interaction. Not being able to hug your loved ones, talk to strangers, dance in crowds, or simply feel another’s presence, that’s not something we’re made to live without.

Just when I began to settle into that quiet desperation, something shifted. A strange and beautiful kind of miracle appeared. It came not in the form of a vaccine or news headline, but through the glow of a screen.

We clung to social media, video calls, apps, and online platforms, not just to stay busy, but to keep hope alive. To remind ourselves that maybe this wasn’t forever.

To protect the joy that tried to slip through our fingers. For some, it was about fighting off the constant shadow of depression.

For others, it was about continuing to believe in love, even if it was just through a glowing screen. For me, it was to find hope and human bond again. And believe me, it was worth it.

The brightest light, the kind you’d never seen before. A rainbow-colored, glitter-sprinkled LGBTQ unicorn, waiting for you in a parallel universe lit up by neon dreams. Your very own Britney Spears-boy, full of sass, attitude, and the kind of mega-social charisma that makes you feel like a boring mortal in comparison.

He is more than just a zumba instructor or a dancer, he is a wild-hearted performer, a cheerleader for life, a guide through the storm, the best queer best buddy "you could wish to get" and the ethereal crush of everybody.

He appeared on Zoom, bright-eyed and brilliant, inviting us all to move with him.

It didn’t matter if you were a dancer or not. If your feet stumbled or if your camera was blurry. He opened his arms to everyone. His energy burst through the screen, electrifying, uncontainable. He greeted us with a smile so huge, so honest, it felt like a long-lost friend had finally found you.

He became your hyperactive master dancer and fitness mentor. Your personal DJ, taking your musical requests like they were the most important thing in the world.

One hour. That’s all it took. One hour of dancing to different rhythms, choreographed routines, and his unstoppable energy.

And once you met him?

Life was never the same again.

From the very first song, I was gone and surrendered to the chaos. I laughed, shouted. I danced like a maniac and forgot everything else or maybe I was just being myself. You didn’t even realize an hour had passed, because somehow, time disappeared when you moved with him.

Then, like magic, he leaned in close to the screen and told you that everything was going to be okay. That if you kept your mind busy and your body moving, it all felt a little lighter. And you believed him. Because he was right.

He wasn’t lying. He ended class smiling like the Joker, waving goodbye with pure euphoria in his voice, and somehow you felt high, buzzing with something you hadn’t felt in ages 'Endorphins", pure, sparkly happiness.

Something inside you that bloomed again, something you didn’t even realize had gone quiet.

When he danced, it was with the joy of a child who never forgot how to be wild.

Some days, I wondered where all that magic came from.

Was he born under a lucky star?

Was he dropped as a baby into a cauldron of the unlimited pure happiness and magic like a modern-day Obelix?

I didn’t know. But I knew he was real. And more than that, he cared.

Day after day, we showed up. Some in pajamas, some in costumes.

We danced like the world was changing for the worst because in some ways, it had. And dancing was how we rebuilt it. He turned our screens into windows of possibility, where everything was okay, even magical.

We cheered, we sweated, we howled with laughter, we fell in love with the rhythm of life again.

All he asked in return was that you give him back a little good energy. And that was so reassuring of how we aproach Love....it's a give and give, 50/50 right?

He was there to coax out your inner child, that quiet, shy spark inside you that always longed to be seen and celebrated. He welcomed that side of you with high-fives, emotional cheers and loudy laughter.

All he probably wanted was to help as many people as possible through the isolation. To make sure no one felt truly alone. To keep high hopes alive.

Because, deep down, he didn’t want to feel alone either. He didn’t want to lose his own belief in life or in people in general.

The days passed, and every class left you with a ridiculous, wonderful stockpile of endorphins. The best drug in the world : Clean, healthy, wild, joyful, natural!.

After each session, you’d be drenched in sweat, as if you’d danced through a summer thunderstorm. And you felt ready. He made us feel unstoppable, like if he asked us to dance for hours, in the streets, in the snow, in the heat, we’d do it and we did.

Ready to take on the world with music in the heart. Ready to become one of his magical minions, spreading joy door-to-door.

If he asked you to shout louder, to laugh harder or to join him in some exclusive coven of magical, endorphin-addicted creatures, well! were already there.

Eventually, the world softened, slowly, things shifted again.

Restrictions eased. We no longer had to be quite so alone. Small, in-person classes returned under some little rules.

And what about the shinning star?

He made his biggest dream come true, he built his own physical world of color, a space where anyone who wanted to keep dancing with him could enter and feel free.

Every effort was worth it for another hit of that happiness. Even if I took a few tricks to get inside his rainbow castle, even if it meant bending the rules a little, getting that ticket to his universe was worth the risk.

I took a chance. I found a way in. Imagine dancing under neon lights, music blaring, singing like there’s no tomorrow.

Suddenly, you feel like the greatest tropical dancer of all time. You start believing Daddy Yankee might call you to be in his next music video, that maybe The Weeknd needs you on stage, and you are convinced Dua Lipa has nothing of your moves.

Your body moves like it knows something your mind forgot and the mirror becomes your witness. Often, I looked in the mirror, mid-dance, and asked myself:

Where has this fierce girl been hiding all my life?

He gave you more than choreography. He gave you the courage to feel free. He helped you peel away fear, to recognize happiness, to believe in your own magic.

And that never fades.

After a considerable time, I felt growing and inner expanding myself. I water my own curiosity, the desire to learn more, to bring my own dreams and projets into reality that eventually led me toward a new chapter, where I could give my own magic back to the world. He show me what I had it in me all along.

And one day, it became clear: it was time to move forward. Like graduating from a beautiful lesson that forever colored my soul. I was ready to shine in my own unique way.

Sometimes, I’m walking down the street, earbuds in my ears and my electric playlist. And suddenly, a song we used to dance alltogether plays.

I still remember some steps so I close my eyes and dance along the streets.

Maybe someone sees me. Maybe they think I’m a little crazy or strange.

And maybe they’re right.

The joy still lives inside me, the spark, the dance, the belief even in the most blue days I still feel it and at that moment I sing to myself : "Stay up on that rise, Stay up on that rise and never come down, oh! "

And I'm completely sure that the unicorn shinning star continues to glow very bright, stronger than ever, fueled by the dreams that he never let go and his high hopes because his very name dances with the promise of fulfilling VICTORy.

Sprinkle, Sprinkle!!!