Clockwise from bottom left: Binu Harikumar, Usha Mohan, Radhika Mijulal and Lakshmi Viswanathan, dancers at the Dharani School of Performing Arts in Kochi, Kerala | photo credit: special arrangement
“It’s time for seniors to dance,” says Geeta Mathen. In 2006 she founded Natya Vyayam in Kochi to encourage older women to dance and exercise.
“It was ahead of its time,” she says. In 1998 she started informally teaching dance to seniors, but found few takers. Geeta is resuming classes in May after the pandemic, especially for women above 50 and has already received invitations from two apartment complexes to hold sessions. If there’s a group of 10 or more senior dancers, she plans to hold classes in apartments across town. She also teaches at her place, Veranda, in Kottayam.
Chandrika Menon, 72, is one of the senior dancers of KAPZ Dance Sessions, a dance platform started by choreographer Kalpana Suseelan in Thevara, Kochi. Chandrika joined last year when the school was established. i dance too Nattu Nattu,” she laughs, adding, “Dance improves your memory, coordination, energy, grace and strength, step-by-step.”
Geeta Karot, 78, is the senior-most in the group. She loves western dance and learned to dance jazz and salsa, as well as belly dance in various cities in Europe where she lived due to her husband’s job. He had joined the class three months back. “While passing by the dancers I heard one of my favorite songs and wanted to join in. They welcomed me,” says Geeta, adding that she is in love with music.
Kalpana’s senior students, all over the age of 60, form a group called the Lady Bugs. She says that dance has helped ease some of her health problems. She gives the example of a woman experiencing “memory problems” that improved significantly with dance. “You have to remember the dance steps and that rekindles their memory,” she says.
salsa sparkles
Her classes for seniors begin with Latin moves, followed by Salsa Shines, in which the partners perform a variety of agile foot movements, side by side.
Senior Women Group Lady Bugs of KAPZ Dance Sessions, Thevara, Kochi | photo credit: special arrangement
One of the senior most Indian classical dancers from Kochi, Shyamala Surendran broke the glass ceiling in 1982 when she started learning dance at the age of 34. “She herself is considered late,” she says, adding that it was her passion that she pursued and later founded the Dharani School of Performing Arts in the 90s.
In early 2023, three 50-year-olds have enrolled in her school to learn classical dance. According to him dance “is like a whirlpool” and draws one into a world of self-discovery and realization. “The end result of this is pure happiness,” she says.
On the challenges of teaching dance to seniors as compared to children, Shyamala says that it is only pure dance—movement—that children can master, but to perform good acting (Communication of inner feelings) One has to be mature to understand it.
Shyamala says that in many instances she sees children sending their mothers to dance because they see a change in their mothers’ mood for the better. Vaishnavi Sainath, who founded Vaishnavi Dance Center in Secunderabad in 2012, agrees. “Grandmothers are joining a class, a mother-daughter duo is enjoying art and finding a new-found closeness in their relationship,” she says.
online classes
Vaishnavi notices that there are definitely a number of women in the age group of 40 to 60 who dance. “It’s good to see that women are finally letting go of their inhibitions,” she says, adding the online classes “gave them the confidence to dance.”
Sheeba Joseph, 57, who joined the Dharani School of Dance this year after retiring as a teacher from St. Augustine Higher Secondary School in Aroor, says her family supports her decision, though her neighbors may disapprove . She considers dance as a good way to lose weight. “For me, my 75-year-old teacher Shyamala is an inspiration,” she adds.
Chennai-based VP Dhananjayan of classical dance and his wife Shantha, who continue to perform into their 80s, say seniors dance for two reasons – to fulfill a childhood passion and to provide physical, mental and emotional well-being. To experience spiritual benefits. This has another advantage, says Dhananjayan: “These seniors have been exposed to dance performances to a large audience and will now know the nuances of dance. That’s what an artiste wants.