Cupid gave her courage

It’s worth it.

That’s what my friend Tanya wants you to know, and, through her vision, voice, lyrics, music and dance she offers exuberant proof.

The video for her band Dirty Mercy’s latest song “Cupid give me courage” dropped yesterday, and it’s the perfect Valentine’s Day collaboration.

“This song is basically about the fact that, no matter how long in coming, or how challenging it is, love is always worth the work,” she said. “It’s all worth it, from top to bottom. Even the hard times. Even the boring times. It’s all worth it.”

The song came easily to Tanya, as did the vision for the video she wanted to accompany it. Putting together the video, though, took a whole lot of work.

“I sent out an email asking people to send me videos of them dancing to my song and right away four people sent me back their videos,” she said. “I thought, oh this is going to be cool! Then I talked to my video editor and she said, ‘You’re going to need 100 of these.’”

So, Tanya climbed out of her comfort zone, solicited more videos and eventually hired renown tap dancer Marc Mendonca to help out. Those are his feet you see in the opening scenes of the video. His wife choreographed the scene with the dancing umbrellas, his daughter danced in it and his son filmed the scenes.

“He actually offered to do it for free, but I really wanted them all to know how much I respect their work so I paid them,” Tanya said. “They’re so awesome.”

While there are a few professional dancers scattered throughout the video, most are people who know and love Tanya. The dancers include people from 10 states, including Alaska, all ages and genders. People dance in lakes, on porches, around campfires and in a cranberry bog. (If you look closely, you may even see a kitchen dancer in one scene and her English teacher mother in another.)

As we head into Valentine’s Day weekend, I hope you’ll give this tune a listen and maybe you and some of the loves in your life can dance to it as well. There’s no wrong way to dance and, just like love, it’s always worth the effort.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

(I screen-shotted a few of the dancers for your entertainment, but it’s more fun to watch the video.)

Here’s the video. You can also find it on Tanya’s Facebook Page. You can follow her for even more great music.