When I think of the parts of my life I can control (unlike the horrific timeline of current events we’re living through), I’m pretty satisfied. I have routines and activities that bring me small moments of joy, and every so often, there are big moments of joy, like traveling somewhere new, visiting family/friends whom I haven’t seen in a while, or any time a puppy joins a family.

If I had to say anything was missing right now, it would be a lack of collective effervescence in my life.

For those of you who don’t know, collective effervescence is a sociological concept coined by Émile Durkheim describing the intense, electric energy and emotional, shared, or spiritual high experienced by individuals when they come together in a group for rituals, performances, or collective actions.

The pandemic stole this away from a lot of people for years, and I’ve written before about the first time I experienced it after the world “opened back up.”

But I don’t experience it very often these days. One reason is that I don’t go to a lot of events that naturally lends itself to collective effervescence, such as sporting events or concerts.

I also live in an area with lots and lots of people, and consequently, lots and lots of events and activities on any given day. These aspects of big town living can also dilute collective effervescence simply because of all the choices and, still being relatively new to the area, I don’t necessarily know the people I’m with, so there are no already established emotional connections.

That’s why this past Friday night was such a treat for me!

With a group of three other people, two of whom are friends from my romancing the tropes book club at the Westminster Library, we attended an Earlybirds Club Dance Party at the Fox Theater in Boulder.

I have been waiting YEARS for an early bird movement to change when events are offered (no late nights for this narcoleptic), and while I’m still waiting for this to catch on, the women at Earlybird Club Dance Party are doing their best to make sure this happens.

The Earybirds Club Dance Party tag line is “A dance party for ladies who have sh*t to do in the morning.” It started at 6pm and ended at 10pm (still a little late for me), but, OMGosh! Friday night was so much fun and far exceeded all my expectations.

Everyone there was happy and carefree. The music was from the 70s to today, the energy felt electric, and there were zero expectations that you had to do anything but dance. Although there was a lot of belting out of lyrics by all of us.

About halfway through, the local Early Bird Club “ambassador” took the stage. I turned to my group and said, “If this turns out to be a cult, sign me up!”

The ambassador spoke about the struggles of women right now, and some of the loudest cheers were in response to her statement about how hard it is to make dinner for ourselves every single night for the rest of our lives. She then told us that tonight, “All you have to do is dance!”

So we did.

The night was collective effervescence at its very best, and I hope the Early Bird Club comes back to Boulder soon.

If you’re interested, you can check out shows on their website here: https://early-birds.club/

But be forewarned, most shows are already sold out!

Now, could we also please offer concerts at 2 pm?