This Sunday at Bergamot Arts District, Michelle Edgar returns to The Crow with the second installment of “The Discipline of Joy,” a talk that transforms personal adversity into a practice of living, brought to life through movement. As part of a three-part series culminating in June, Edgar shares a lived philosophy in real time, one forged in uncertainty, rebuilt through discipline, and rediscovered through joy.
Days before Thanksgiving, Edgar found herself sitting alone at LAX’s California Pizza Kitchen, waiting for a call she did not want to take. When it came, her UCLA doctor told her she would be referred to an oncologist surgeon to remove an undetermined mass. In that moment, boarding a flight between fear and uncertainty, something shifted, not because she had answers, but because she was forced to ask a different question: what if this changes everything? That question became the foundation of what she now calls her “Joy Allocation Budget,” or "JAB," a framework that challenges individuals to rethink not just how they spend their time, but how they protect what matters most. As Edgar shares, “we don’t lose joy all at once, we lose it in small ways, in the hours we don’t question, in the pace we don’t interrupt.”
What emerged was not simply a motivational concept, but a practice of a weekly “ME Review,” a daily awareness of time, and a commitment to protect even one hour of joy; not aspirational, but operational. Discipline, in Edgar’s words, is not punishment, it is prioritization, and joy is not something you wait for, but something you allocate, protect, and practice.
That shift became tangible in her recovery after major surgery, when physical limitations forced her to reimagine movement, expression, and connection. Unable to return to her usual routines and learning her way back into her body, she turned to tango. What began as a simple moment with her mother, an effort to make her smile became a powerful practice of surrender, presence, and rhythm.
Four years ago, Edgar was introduced to world-renowned dancer Liz Lira. This Sunday marks a full circle moment, as Lira joins the program not only as a collaborator, but through a special birthday performance that brings the philosophy of the talk into the body. “Dance is where discipline disappears into feeling,” Lira said. “You train, you repeat, you refine, but in the end, joy only shows up when you let go. That’s the paradox, and that’s the power.” For Lira, dance has always been more than movement, it is a vehicle for transformation, proof that every step forward, no matter how difficult, is an act of growth. Born in Bolivia and raised in Southern California, she turned personal adversity into momentum, building a global career that spans nine world championships, international stages, and choreography across film and television.
The second installment at The Crow expands beyond words, transforming theory into embodiment in real time and asking not just what your joy is, but where it lives; in your time, your choices, and your willingness to protect it. It also asks a deeper question: if your life is a budget, what are you actually investing in?
Set against the creative backdrop of Bergamot, the event reflects something larger happening across Santa Monica, a continued focus on arts, experience, and community as essential infrastructure. Edgar, who serves as a Santa Monica Arts Commissioner and on a state board, has long advocated for this intersection, where storytelling, performance, and civic life meet; this event stands as a reflection of that belief that culture is not separate from daily life, but a pathway back to it.
Six months ago, Edgar was waiting for answers she feared might take everything away. What she found instead was clarity. “Joy is not something we arrive at,” she says. “It is something we allocate, protect, and practice every single day.” This Sunday, that idea steps off the page and onto the floor with a talk, a dance, and a reminder not to wait for joy, but to build it, to practice it, and ultimately, to seize it.