Eighty And Still Dancing

I am 81 and have been writing articles on ballroom dancing since 1990 in dance magazines and online on blogs and websites. I have had a time out for dancing on Sundays at the dance studio because I had an auto accident where a man was texting and hit our car and did much damage to us and the car. After several years of not dancing ,because of injuries, we are going back this coming Fall to once again dance every Sunday in the afternoons . I have inspired thousands of seniors and not yet seniors to go out and learn to ballroom dance long before Dancing With The Stars became a hit show. My articles encourage everyone who has ever had the thought to dance and felt they were unable to try it, to try it now. With my inspiring stories, many have done just that.There was a lady in California who read my articles and at the age of 79.5 , received the courage from my stories to try it. Her husband was in a nursing home for 20 years and she was depressed. She took my ideas and started lessons and lo and behold after a year or so, she even went out and competed with her professional coach and won awards and also danced in showcases before her peers at the studio she attended. She said I saved her sanity and her life, because I gave her the courage to do this at the advanced age she was then. IT IS EXCELLENT for your physical health, and your mental health, because with dancing, you use your mind along with your feet, arms, soul and heart. In my all time favorite movie Love Is A Many SplendoredThing, the hero William Holden says to the heroine Jennifer Jones " If I do not return from the war ( he was a correspondent) we have not lost because we have had the many splendored thing." He meant their love. Also, in ballroom dancing, people who participate in it have the many splendored thing, because they are accomplishing the feat with their feet of making magic with movements that they have been taught by professionals. They are engaging in a many splendored happening. When I danced at the dance studio on Sundays, there were mostly seniors dancing and some danced like they were competition dancers. This means that they and their coach entered competitions, he or she the amateur and the teacher the professional. This is called pro-am. I won most of my trophies, actually all of my trophies competing in Virginia, Maryland, Kansas, Florida and New Jersey. I came home from Florida in 1983 with five trophies and I took bath towels from the bathroom and wrapped each of them in a towel and put them in my carryon bag. They, even in those days opened your luggage up and I think they thought I had rifles or guns wrapped up. They were astonished they were only innocent dance trophies and asked me how I won them. I was so proud to bring them home. I called the next day home, a carpenter I knew to come out and to give me an estimate on building shelves for these trophies in my kitchen. I could hardly wait until he made them and installed them in about two weeks Oh how, I did not mind dusting all 58 trophies and medals every Thursday on cleaning day. You would think I had won the Emmy, the Oscar or the Grammy statue during a show on TV honoring the winners of each category. In my heart, mind and soul, I was just as important during those winning years as if I was a move star. So 80 and still thinking about dancing soon, is a beautiful thought in my mind and a sweet thought in my heart and soul. Dancing With The Stars gives only one trophy for one winner dancing for 12 weeks. I think everyone who participates, the amateurs, should receive a ribbon, a certificate, a trophy for all the hard work. They could call it the Elita trophy for everyone over 65 who tries and even if they do not win, they are still winners. Elita Sohmer Clayman