Tugi Barcelo went from Dua Lipa’s choreographer to Wiggle Room Sage.

On Tuesday night in Ataturk Village, Teresa “Toogie” Barcelo creates a portal. With her arms outstretched, she beckoned the participants of her movement workshop, the Wiggle Room, to join her on the other side, where they would see a new version of themselves.

“Go to the next iteration of yourself,” he commands. The participants, who have spent the last hour crying, kicking and muttering, cross an unseen threshold. Their feet move gently, their smiling faces stick out from their mouths.

Theresa “Toogie” Barcelo uses a wave drum during a wiggle room class at G-Son Studios.

(Kaila Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

Barcelo has been leading the LA-based movement class for nearly a decade. As an accomplished choreographer and movement director, she has worked with pop stars such as Sabrina Carpenter, Harry Styles, St. Vincent, Troye Sivan and Dua Lipa – most notably choreographing Dua Lipa’s hit music video “New Rules.”

Barcelona’s success can be credited to its unique approach, which is the center of wellness and sculpture. “People call me the energy coordinator,” he jokes. “I’m kind of a mystery in the business industry.”

Raised in Miami, Barcelo felt frustrated while pursuing a dance career in Los Angeles. Her early career was plagued with “animal voice auditions, getting an agent and sexy headshots. All the surface-level things you’re told you have to do in LA to succeed as a dancer.”

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Barcelo found freedom—and escape—in improvisational and freestyle dance. “I saw an opportunity there. I want to teach improv in L.A. It’s something I can give to this community,” he says.

From there, the wiggle room was born. What started as a sanctuary for dancers to explore improvisation has grown into something deeper. “I started to realize that the classroom was really a place of healing for a lot of people,” says Barcelo. “There wasn’t really anywhere they could go to explore themselves as an activist.”

Soon, Barcelo turned her attention to meditation practice, which she carried over to her work as a choreographer and dancer. “I got certified as a breath coach. I started relying more on sculptural exercises, body connection and somatic healing tools.” Wiggle Room is a symbiotic marriage of dance and meditation. The result is a confusing and surprising interplay of bodies. “We breathe. We move and we move. We have moments of meditation. That’s the big flow of the game.”

Wiggle Room is accompanied by a live score performed by Joe Berry, a member of the Grammy-nominated electronic group M83 and a longtime friend of Barcelo’s. Barcelo invited Barry to collaborate in the wiggle room at the start of their trial. “I grew up taking dance classes with a live-in partner,” says Barcelo. “When we started dating, that was one of the first things I asked Joe.”

M83 musician Joe Barry uses a combination of instruments including synths and sound packs to bring the class together.

(Kaila Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

Barry uses a mix of instruments – including saxophones, synthesizers and sound bags – to create an otherworldly, moody score. In class, a saxophone solo cheers up the class. “Instruments take cues like dancers,” he explains. A classically trained musician with expertise in jazz, classical and electronica, Barry describes his role as “composing for people’s emotions”.

Barry’s scores are integral to the meditative environment of the classroom. “The live soundscapes he randomly created were these beautiful sound baths with ambient textures,” says Barcelo.

Earlier this year, Barcelo and Barry moved to Joshua Tree. Still, Barcelo hosts wiggle rooms once a month at venues in L.A. Most recently, she hosted a workshop at G-Son Studios in Atwater Village, a former rehearsal space and recording studio for the Beastie Boys.

The class is inclusive for everyone, regardless of previous dance experience. “There are people who are visual artists—people who are not dancers and have no experience in movement,” Barslow says. In the wiggle room, the distinction between dancers and non-dancers fades away and the inner child leads the way – an instinctive trumpet technique.

Wiggle room participants relax and unwind.

(Kaila Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

To begin the workshop, Barcelo emphasizes the importance of listening to the body. “Do what feels right,” he encourages. “Allow your body to eat all over the place.” In a high-pressure, frenetic society, Barcelo explains that body movement acts as a release valve for pent-up emotions.

“All these moments are stored as energy in the body. When we move, shake or move, we actually receive energy that we can transfer, refine and transform into creativity and beauty,” she notes.

Barcelo hopes that the hour spent together will highlight the importance of community. “Moving with other bodies who are also going through emotionally complex lives—that shared experience is truly healing.”

In 2023, Barcelo has packed his class mystical encounter into a digital app, “Tugi“He calls it a digital toolbox filled with guided breath, meditation, somatic movement and visualization exercises. “It’s like what I have in my pocket when you need an earthly companion,” Barslow says.

Throughout the class, Barcelo offers wicked advice and heartwarming gestures. At one point, she asked: “What does it feel like to add something light?” In other moments, her advice is often mystical and moral as she walks the place with a smile. He points out Jupiter retrograde and asks participants to “let the inquisitive parts drive you.”

Felicia St. Cyr, 29, left, and Hunter Wayne Foster, 30, sew during a wiggle room class.

(Kaila Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

Participant and professional dancer Brandon Galvan describes the class as transformative. “Everything stops for a moment and brings you back to your home, which is your body. Diving deep into it really puts you in place—time flies,” Galvan says. Galvan says. “I saw a flash of beautiful things.”

As the class ends, Barcelo defines a word – pronoiathe belief that the universe is conspiring in your favor. It is an easy sight to accept in its presence. According to Barslow, “witnessing each other in a shared moment is healing.”