BlogHer - Groovinâ€™ with granny - Comments

Rhythm and the Beat

Joared — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:47:36 -0600

We don't lose rhythm and the beat just because we've added a few years. I understand there are some older dancers in Palm Springs, CA who put on quite a show annually. Good to let the rest of the world see fun and dancing can be had at any age, including when we're elders.

Those dancers have SERIOUS moves!

Birdie Jaworski — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 08:46:17 -0600

I don't care what age they age - they look awesome! Being able to move your body in ways that translates emotion and sheer joy like that is a rare gift. Yay elder dance team! I hope that they enjoy themselves and that they bring some inspiration to everyone watching them.

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Groovinâ€™ with granny

Ronni Bennett — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 04:36:33 -0600

Man, if I were still living in New York City, Iâ€™d have crossed the bridge to New Jersey for this audition, as reported in New York magazine, and I donâ€™t even like sports:

â€œPetra Pope noticed something funny during last seasonâ€™s Nets halftime dance contests: â€˜Whenever a senior citizen starts doing hip-hop moves, the crowd goes nuts.â€™ So Pope, the teamâ€™s director of entertainment, decided to assemble a senior dance team; tryouts were last week.â€

To be eligible, you had to be older than 60 and have some dance ability. Thirty-four women and one man tried out, groovinâ€™ to Jay-Zâ€™s Show Me What You Got. You can see photos and interviews with some of the elders here and there is video at wcbstv.com of the winners who will be performing at games during halftime beginning in a week or so.

No, the elders probably canâ€™t move as smoothly as the professional Nets dancers and yes, thereâ€™s a little bit of condescension in the tone of the reporters (â€œarenâ€™t those old folks cuteâ€). But Iâ€™m ignoring that. Any time elders become more visible than usual in the mainstream is a good time.

Damn, I wish I could have auditioned. I was a pretty good dancer in my day.

[Hat tip to Melinda Applegate.]

* Contributing Editor Ronni Bennett also blogs at Time Goes By, What itâ€™s really like to get older.