"Dancing Agelessly" article
With high-heel and orthopedic shoes, they step gracefully and sure-footedly to the boom-box music. They move to Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York and to The Electric Boogie. It’s weekly dance class at the Marion Towers, a retirement home in Hoboken, New Jersey. A room full of senior women are on the floor, with one senior man enjoying the view from the sidelines. Dorothy Politowsky thinks she knows where the rest of the elderly men are, “They’re all dead.” The tongue-in-cheek answer sends her friends into fits of laughter as they eagerly move towards the dance floor to shuffle around to the Cha-Cha-Cha..
The women dance in tight formation, led by Earl Hicks, a warm-hearted dance instructor who looks strikingly like Ben Vereen. He belts out the steps – “c’mon, forward, back and turn, 1,2,3,…” like a helmsman keeping his crew working rhythmically together. Mr. Hicks is quick to point out that dancing isn’t the only draw. “They get to exercise, they get the joy of meeting people and they get the joy of reminiscing.” The music releases many pleasurable memories, and the class is designed to do just that. As Mr. Hicks notes, “We play a lot of their favorite songs, and we honor requests.”
The class is also targeted to take advantage of the physical benefits that dance delivers to the muscles and joints. According to Jane Wilson Cathcart, dance therapist, “The best thing for arthritis is movement. You’re juicing your joints.” Dance also seems to re-engage forgotten skills. “Sometimes we concentrate on what we can’t do. The rhythm carries you into movement that you didn’t know you can do,” Ms. Wilson Cathcart points out.
You don’t have to be on the dance floor to derive the benefits that dance offers. Those who can’t stand simply dance in their chairs - heads bob, feet and fingers tap and arms fly to the rhythm. Minnie DeCrisci, who, at 89, suffers from severe arthritis that severely limits her motion. “I love coming down to be here with all of them. I try to learn all the steps that they do. Sometimes I keep in-time, sometimes I don’t.” It’s almost as if they're able to complete their movements by watching more able-bodied dancers. According to Ms. Wilson Cathcart, “Sometimes just looking at other people moving allows us to empathize with them on a body-level, and they move for us.”
While dancing clearly offers physical and social benefits, how is it at promoting world peace? Ms.Politowsky, one of the more vocal residents, sees some promise. “Sometimes we see each other during the day, and we don’t acknowledge each other. When we come together here, we dance. We have a lovely time.” Finally, real hope for our nation’s deep political divisions. If only Red and Blue held each other tight on the dance floor, it would unify our country one politically opposed dancer at a time.
-Al Leibman