International dance day 2023: Senior women from Kochi are falling in love with dance all over again Premium

Senior women are taking to dance as they discover the benefits of movement

“The moment of seniors taking to dance has come,” says Geetha Mathen. In 2006 she founded Natya Vyayaama in Kochi to encourage older women to dance and exercise.

“It was ahead of its time then,” she says. In 1998 she had informally started teaching dance to seniors but found few takers. Post the pandemic Geetha is relaunching the classes in May, exclusively for women above 50 and has already received invitations from two apartment complexes to hold sessions. She plans to hold classes at apartments across the city, if there is a group of 10 or more senior dancers. She teaches at her space, Veranda, in Kottayam as well.

Chandrika Menon, 72, is one of the senior dancers at KAPZ Dance Sessions, a dance platform started by choreographer Kalpana Susheelan, in Thevara , Kochi. Chandrika joined last year when the school was founded. “I even dance to  nattu nattu,” she says with a laugh, adding “Dance improves your memory, coordination, energy, grace and power, step-by-step.”

At 78, Geeta Karot, is the senior-most in the group. She loves western dance and learnt how to dance jazz and salsa, as well as belly dance, in different cities in Europe, where she resided because of her husband’s job. She joined the classes three months ago. “I happened to hear a favourite song of mine while walking past the dancers and wanted to join. They welcomed me,” says Geeta, adding that she loves moving to music.

Kalpana’s senior students, a group called, Lady Bugs, are all above the age of 60. Dance has helped alleviate some of their health problems, she says. She gives an example of a woman facing “memory issues”, which improved drastically with dance. “You have to remember the dance steps, and that regenerated her memory power,” she says.

Her classes for seniors begin with Latin moves , followed by Salsa shines, in which partners move apart from each other to show off a variety of nimble foot movements.

One of Kochi’s most senior Indian classical dancers, Shyamala Surendran broke the glass ceiling in 1982 when she began learning dance as a 34-year-old. “That itself is considered late,” she says adding that it was her passion that she pursued, and later set up Dharani school of Performing Arts in the 90s.