We Are TikTok Challenged!

Deanna and Emily attempt the Jiggy Woogie

If you have a platform called How To Be Less Old it feels wrong to not at least attempt a TikTok challenge. In this post we are going to walk you through our TikTok challenge journey (heavy on the challenge).

During last week’s podstack Deanna blindsided Emily with an on air request that they both learn and film the — Jiggy Woogie TikTok challenge. Without hesitation Emily agreed because that’s the kind of sport she is. Before recording the podcast Deanna had reached out to her friend Jennifer Jackson to see if she would be down to help team HTBLO learn this - relatively challenging - TikTok dance. Jennifer is currently a therapist and a children’s book author, formerly a choreographer who specialized in making actors look good when they had to move their bodies. Jennifer said her schedule was tight but she was — in!

During that very same podcast Deanna and Emily discussed how absolute insane the month of December had gotten, so randomly inserting day-of-dancing into the holiday season was extra spicy.

Before we go any further it is important that you, our gorgeous HTBLO subscribers, double click on the post below and watch the gateway Tok that grabbed Deanna’s attention and had her grooving at her computer.

@tuffalawd#tiktokjamaica #jiggywoogiechallenge #babylawd

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DAY OF DANCING aka DOD

Looking at everyone’s schedules we found a window-for-dance on Saturday 12/9 at 2pm. Location: Deanna’s place.

DEANNA HERE:

That Saturday I woke up and realized I hadn’t heard from either Emily or Jennifer since we locked in our 2pm dance time. I hit our thread and checked in to see if we were still all systems go.

Side-note: I had taken a break from my bathroom peel-and-stick wallpaper project due to more pressing deadlines. Plus had to order another roll of peel-and-stick because the color was off on the final roll. That morning I was hellbent on getting the bathroom done before our rehearsal so that’s what I was busy with.

Jennifer quickly responded that she was indeed all systems go but was going to have to learn the challenge along with us. No time to prep. Again can’t stress enough - the holiday season is no time to schedule a DOD! I quickly texted back: Obvi! We’ll be sorting it out as a team. Emily fires back, “Haven’t watched a video yet, whoops.”

I was stopped in my tracks. EMILY HASN’T WATCHED A SINGLE JIGGY WOGGIE VIDEO YET?? As far as TikTok dance challenges go - this one is not the easiest! I dropped the video above into our text thread and waited to see if we were still moving forward. WE WERE!

Back to the peel-and-stick. I had left the hardest corner for last and boy-oh-boy did it give me a run for my money. I looped my husband into the situation. Together we were measuring and cutting and sweating. Ultimately I had to abort. Jennifer and Emily did NOT get a completed bathroom. With that said, the project is now complete and I love it.

2pm on the dot Emily arrived. When I opened the door I saw a look on in eyes that I had never seen before. It read: Are we really doing this?

EMILY HERE:

Did Deanna put me on the spot? She sure did. Had I agreed to the dance without ever actually seeing the dance? That’s correct. Am I also the person in any given aerobics class that you feel bad for because she’s clearly giving 100 but is still no where close to doing the right moves? That’s also correct.

When I finally watched the Jiggy Woogie - day of dance - I realized something important. Deanna had watched this and thought to herself, “I can pull this off.” But when I watched this dance I thought, “I’m so effed.” I am not the most physically agile lady. Let’s not forget, I started this year deep in physical therapy with back issues.

Jennifer is a very talented woman and I don’t want to think about what Saturday would have been like without her. But the truth remains that even an hour into that rehearsal Deanna felt somewhere close to confident and I was a touch closer to tears. Thankfully, Deanna and Wing had graciously put out a bowl of peanut M&Ms that I INHALED. After which I gave myself a sugar-fueled pep talk: “Emily. The only way through this is to learn and do the dance. I love you. Focus up, and do your best.” And that is what we got. My best.

DEANNA HERE:

Shortly into us trying to get the first beats of choreo down a lot of adjustments had to be made. I cranked the air conditioner and inserted my arch supports. Jennifer changed out of her work top into a t-shirt. Emily grabbed and applied some deodorant. We were all taken aback by just how quickly we were feeling TikTok challenged.

AND YET WE PERSISTED!

Guess what? We were also having fun! Emily and I both had our favorite moves. I loved the arms-up-bird-action and she was a big fan of the tap-the-shoulders and then swing-arm-around-the-head jam. It felt good to move our bods and learn something new! It felt good to sweat! It felt good to get incrementally better as we trudged ahead. Jennifer was fearlessly moving us forward in the routine despite us not fully having all the moves locked down. The result was: we got SOMEWHERE!

THE FINAL PRODUCT

Three hours in and we were going to have to call it a day. The truth of the matter was, we needed one more DOD to really get this sucker locked and loaded. But we concluded that a second rehearsal was just not going to happen during this holiday season. Jennifer took off and team HTBLO ran the routine a few more times. We got where we got and we chose our choice. It was time to have Wing Cheng record our contribution to the Jiggy Woogie challenge.

Before we reveal our video some things to note, some opportunities if you will:

• We are not facing the camera ✅

• We didn’t change out of our rehearsal clothing ✅

• We are sweaty ✅

• We needed another 1.5 hours of rehearsal to fully nail it ✅

Another HUGE reveal before the reveal. HTBLO does not have a TikTok account. We never discussed if we were going to actually upload it to TikTok!

PRESENTING THE HTBLO JIGGY WOOGIE