The Aging Joys

ANCHOR:
A dance troupe of 13 seniors showed off their hip hop moves in the film, 'Gotta Dance,' which recently premiered at New York's Tribeca Film Festival. The dance group also performed an energetic hip hop routine in front of thousands at a basketball game outside of the city. Here's more on these agile elders.

STORY:
We've all heard the adage about aging, 'It's mind over matter', 'you're only as old as you feel', it's just a number. Well here's a group of seniors that prove the maxims.

These hip-hopping groovers range from 60 to 82 years of age and make up the Netsationals, the New Jersey Nets 13-strong senior dance troupe.

The group got together to perform hip hop dance routines in front of thousands at the basket ball team's home games.

When award winning director Dori Berinstein heard about them she knew their story could be turned into a film.

The subsequent documentary, Gotta Dance, proves there's simply no age limit when it comes to getting down.

[Dori Berinstein, Producer and Director]:
''I really wanted in a very positive way to smash those very inaccurate expectations about age and do something very celebratory. So I read in the Cindy Adams column that they were starting a senior citizen hip hop dance team, The Nets, actually, they didn't announce that it was going to be hip hop. And I thought this could be it, this is so cool, this could be it."

Joe Bianco, the only male on the team, has been dancing since he was a teenager. He says he tried out after being dared by his two sons and the dare paid off.

[Joe Bianco, Netsationals Troupe]:
"Right now, I feel great. I got my harem of ladies, they're terrific and it's been enjoyable the last few years. So I continue to look forward to doing it again in '09."

Betty Betsy also seems to have found an undiscovered joy.

[Betty Betsy, Netsationals Troupe]:
"I love hip hop. I found it when I turned 60. You can do the twist but then it goes a different direction and now I can do hip hop every day all week long practicing."

Although she's got a move or two yet to master.

[Betty Betsy, Netsationals Troupe]:
"Oh, this one. I can't do it, you get your head going this way and, it's is it the snake? I cannot do it and I will do it. I'm going to get it someday."

Disproving another well known adage that you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• age
• joy
• senior
• gotta
• dance
• new
• york's
• tribeca
• film
• festival

[Dmed1256]

Ha Ha.. bet they think they look good on the dance floor :)

[evgeniy13]

"Deathism: The set of beliefs and attitudes which glorifies or accepts death and rejects or despises immortality."

"we are unhappy with our personalities"

that's the point - my biology, my body, which is falling apart because of aging - that is not my personality. Neither my home, or my car.

I want a younger body and I don't want my parents to die. If someone wants to enjoy death in a form of aging - fine, but there must be a freedom of choice for everyone.

[Champikasfg]

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lovely! lovely! lovely!

[MaBlogger]

Hi. Can you take a couple of minutes to respond to my post? I work in a nonprofit that connects older adults to skills based paid volunteer opportunities. (1) What concerns would you have about working with an older adult 55+ ? (2) What could workplaces do to address those concerns or to better prepare their employees to have older adult workers in their environments. (3) Can you mention your own age in your post? Thanks for responding!