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Posts Tagged ‘age’

Toast of the Town Dancers, Age 60+

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 29, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Stefano Giovannini.
Phyllis Bogart discovered the Pacemakers, a dance group for older people, after her beautician recommended them.

They say, “You’re never too old,” but I know from experience that zumba requires a better sense of balance than I have now. Still, there are plenty of people who can not only dance after a certain age but learn new routines.

McKenzie Beard writes at the New York Post, “On the dance floor, Phyllis Bogart moves like she’s made of electricity, not metal. At 78, her pink-and-purple-streaked curls bounce as she shimmies and shakes with the energy of someone half her age, each twirl punctuated by a wide, wild grin. It’s clear that four hip replacements, a mechanical knee and a string of other surgeries haven’t slowed her down — though they did earn her a nickname.

“ ‘With all the titanium in my body, I’ve become known as the bionic babe,’ Bogart told the Post.

“The retired nurse and pharmaceutical rep is a member of the Pacemakers — a precision dance troupe that’s redefining what it means to be a senior, helping people in their 60s, 70s and even 80s stay active both mentally and physically. …

Founded in 2019, the NYC-based Pacemakers sprang to life after founder Susan Avery faced ageist backlash as the oldest dancer for the Brooklyn Cyclones from strangers online. …

“ ‘That is how I learned what it was like to be cyberbullied,’ said Avery, 65, recalling the 2017 incident. … But instead of letting it defeat her, Avery says her daughter urged her to channel the hurt into action.

“So Avery placed an ad in Playbill inviting seniors to audition for a new senior dance team. Sixteen performers answered the call.

“ ‘Our first performance was July 6, 2019,’ she said. ‘I was so nervous, but we ended up getting a standing ovation — and our dance card has been full ever since.’

“Now seven seasons in, the Pacemakers boast 47 members and have won fans around the globe with viral performances that have racked up millions of views online. The team performs for hundreds of thousands of fans each year, appearing frequently at sporting events, community centers, festivals and conferences across the Northeast. …

“While you have to be 60 to join, the group hosts workshops and ‘day discos’ open to all ages.

“Notably, only two members have professional dance training; the rest come from healthcare, education, law enforcement, journalism and a variety of other fields. … But there’s one thing they all share: a fearless approach to aging. … During performances, each member wears their birth year on the back of their jersey, loud and proud. …

“As the Pacemakers embrace their senior status, members say the group helps them stay well as they get older.

“ ‘I never thought at this age that I would be involved in something so exciting, so energizing, so fun and so challenging to my body and my brain,’ Bogart said. …

“Studies show that learning choreography is excellent for the brain, engaging memory, focus, coordination, timing, rhythm and movement simultaneously. Research suggests it helps slow cognitive decline and may even reduce the risk of developing dementia.

“The Pacemakers are also getting a full-body workout. Their complex routines require strength, flexibility and balance, helping members stay physically fit. … The group also creates a community, preventing social isolation and loneliness common among older Americans. …

“The group’s choreographer, Marissa Montanez, designs each routine with the dancers’ mobility and physical limits in mind.

“ ‘I want them to look good. I want them to shine. I don’t want to give them something so hard that they can’t handle it,’ said Montanez. … ‘But at the same time, I don’t want to give them a routine that makes people say, “Oh, old people, how cute …” I want people to be like, “Oh damn, they’re really good; I can’t even do that!” ‘ “

More at the Post, here.

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She’s Still Lobstering at 101

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 18, 2021| 15 Comments »

Photo: Jessica Rinaldi/Globe (WHAT a picture! Rinaldi is among the best.)
Virginia Oliver tossed back an undersized lobster as she and her son, Max, haul traps in Maine.

Are you ready for another story about someone loving their job at an advanced age? Brian MacQuarrie of the Boston Globe interviewed a 101-year-old woman who still fishes for lobster — Virginia Oliver of South Thomaston, Maine.

“It’s not yet 5 a.m.,” he writes, “and the landing at the Spruce Head Fishermen’s Co-op is shrouded in predawn fog that obscures the waters beyond. It’s time to go to work, and Virginia Oliver and her son Max approach the dock in the dark in a 30-foot lobster boat.

“They tie up under the stark, mist-speckled glare from an overhead light. Bait is brought aboard, equipment adjusted, and Max peers into the gloom as he eases the boat into Penobscot Bay.

“In the world of Maine lobstering, it’s a scene that is repeated countless times up and down the state’s rugged coast. But here’s the difference: No other boat has a 101-year-old lobsterwoman aboard, and a fully working one at that.

” ‘I grew up with this,’ said Virginia Oliver, a Rockland woman who began lobstering when she was 8, just before the Great Depression. ‘It’s not hard work for me. It might be for somebody else, but not me.’ …

“The fog began to burn off shortly before 7 a.m., and … Max pointed out a ‘sweet spot’ for lobstering among the many small, rocky islands.

“His mother came to work this day with a bit of makeup on her face, her blue eyes and a pair of small earrings twinkling in the hazy dawn. …

“Virginia Oliver has been working these waters since she first accompanied her lobsterman father as a young girl. After raising four children, she returned to the bay with her husband, who died 15 years ago. Since then, she has continued to venture from shore, three mornings a week, to a saltwater world as familiar as the street where she was born and still lives.

“ ‘When I first started, there weren’t any women but me,’ Oliver said, dressed in olive-green overalls, a blue sweatshirt, and high boots. ‘My husband and I used to go out in all kinds of weather. There aren’t as many lobsters today, though. They’re way overfished, like everything else.’

“Oliver’s job is to measure the lobsters, using pliers to place tight bands around the claws of the keepers, tossing the undersized overboard, and stuffing small pogies into bait bags.

“Naturally right-handed, Oliver has worked the pliers with her left hand since she broke her right wrist several years ago. Despite the change, her hand movements seem remarkably supple and strong. …

“Oliver is meticulous when she measures, tossing back lobsters that are only a hair shorter than the 3¼-inch legal minimum from the eye socket to the rear of the body shell. She also can’t keep egg-bearing or reproductive females, a state requirement that helps bolster the lobster stock. …

“Max Oliver, 78, does double duty as helmsman and hauler, emptying every trap that a hydraulic wheel pulls from the water. Between mother and son, they have choreographed an intricate ballet of demanding, physical work that’s conducted quietly and efficiently.

“Max chuckled over his mother’s stamina and work ethic.

“ ‘It’s pretty damn good, that’s what I call it,’ he said, maneuvering the boat in low water past pine-studded islands. ‘She might give me hell once in a while, though,’ he added with a laugh. ‘She’s the boss.’ …

“Her son drives her to the boat during lobster season, which for the Olivers stretches from the end of May to the beginning of November. They rise about 3 a.m., go to bed at 10 p.m., and look mildly amused when asked how they manage it.

“Oliver said she doesn’t nap when the lobstering is done for the day. There’s shopping to do; there are errands and trips to the post office.

“ ‘I find plenty of housework, too. I don’t like to do it, but I have to do it,’ she said. … ‘I still drive — a GMC four-wheel-drive truck. As you can tell, I’m pretty independent.’

“Her three sons and one daughter range in age from 76 to 82. One of them, 79-year-old Bill, waited at the Spruce Head Co-op this recent morning as he prepared to go lobstering in a separate boat. His mother’s work habits seem to run in the family.

“ ‘Someone asked me, why don’t you retire? I said, “I can’t. My mother would break my neck.” ‘ “

Read more and enjoy all Jessica Rinaldi’s amazing photos of this woman at the Globe, here.

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Gallery Features Artists over 60

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 15, 2018| 2 Comments »

Photo: Carter Burden Gallery
The Carter Burden Gallery in Chelsea shows works by artists who are at least 60 years old.

I’m always happy to see that older people are still appreciated in some quarters — in this case, at a New York gallery that features only artists over 60. Susan Stamberg has the story at National Public Radio (NPR).

“Some artists in New York may be wishing to get older faster. A gallery there caters to artists age 60 and older. No kids allowed.

“Some 200 artists have exhibited at the Carter Burden Gallery since it opened nine years ago in Chelsea. Business is good, and works sell from $200 to $9,000. It’s a lot like hundreds of other galleries in New York — except for one important thing: The Carter Burden has an age limit. Why?

” ‘Older adults do not stop being who they are because they hit a particular age,’ said gallery director Marlena Vaccaro. ‘Professional artists never stop doing what we do, and in many cases we get better at it as we go along.’

“What does change is the art market. With rare exceptions, artists who were hot when they started out found that galleries, and certainly museums, cooled to them as years passed. They kept making art, but weren’t being shown or bought. Carter Burden’s mission is to give them a wall, ‘because walls are the thing we need,’ Vaccaro said.

“According to Vaccaro, very few galleries represent older professional artists, unless they’re really famous. ‘And I get that,’ she said. “Galleries are a business. They need to show artists that are going to bring in big bucks.’

“Carter Burden is different. It’s a nonprofit, supported by a board, a corporate sponsor and philanthropists. …

“Artist Nieves Saah, 67, originally from Bilbao, Spain, has painted all her life. ‘My first show was in SoHo in ’85,’ she said. ‘And I had like 28 paintings there. I sold a few, and then from that I got many shows. I think that year I was in like 15 shows.’

“Then things slowed down. There wasn’t much interest for 10 years. Saah kept on painting her figures and fantasies in vividly colored, cheerful oils. One day she heard about Carter Burden and decided to apply online. ‘I was in a show one month after I sent the application,’ she recalled. …

“Werner Bargsten, a newbie, had his first show this past October. It consisted of stunning, powerful sculptured wall hangings made with clay and copper tubing, and formed into what look like wrapped packages. …

“At 69, Bargsten is glad to be part of the Carter Burden over-60 crowd. ‘I mean, look, it’s always harder to get out of bed the older you get, but most of the artists that I’ve met here seemed like they missed that memo that they were getting old. Most of them have the brains of a 20-year-old or a 30-year-old or something. So they haven’t really aged in terms of their spirit.’ ”

More at NPR, here.

Photo: Carter Burden Gallery
“Under the Stars,” by Nieves Saah, an 0ver-60 artist who shows her work at the Carter Burden Gallery in New York.

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This Docent Is 102

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 21, 2016| 1 Comment »

I gravitate to stories about older people who keep on truckin’ and don’t let age keep them from doing what they love.

Here’s one about a 102-year-old museum docent, who is being honored with a café in her name.

Chuck Hinman of Rhode Island Public Radio reported, “There’s something new at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence … . Visitors to the [Rhode Island School of Design] Museum have been unable to use its Benefit St. entrance since mid-April, but that entrance now has been re-opened, as RISD unveils what it’s been working on these past few months: its first café, called Café Pearl, after one of the museum’s most dedicated and long-serving docents, Pearl Nathan.

“RIPR’s Chuck Hinman talked to the 102-year-old Nathan at her home in East Providence, about her long association with the RISD Museum.”

Hinman goes on to say Nathan is bemused by the café and her new fame. She tells him her “emphasis was on my art collection,” not the food.  She graduated with a degree in art history in New York. When she came to Providence, a friend got her involved in “touring with the children,” and she stayed on. For 70 years.

When Hinman asks who Nathan’s favorite artist is, she says she thinks she will surprise him: “I adore Francis Bacon!”

Now, that takes a certain kind of person, I’d say. A person open to experience. Listen to the audio here and see a photo of Nathan leading a tour in 1962.

Photo: Chuck Hinman / RIPR

Pearl Nathan, 102, a guide at the museum of the Rhode Island School of Design.

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How Vision Changes with Age

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I have to say, I found this new research fascinating as I had been experiencing something similar to the contrast sensitivity described. And I was delighted to see you could train your eyes to counteract the perceptions that can cause a stumble.

Jan Hoffman writes at the NY Times, “As adults age, vision deteriorates. One common type of decline is in contrast sensitivity, the ability to distinguish gradations of light to dark, making it possible to discern where one object ends and another begins.

“When an older adult descends a flight of stairs, for example, she may not tell the edge of one step from the next, so she stumbles. At night, an older driver may squint to see the edge of white road stripes on blacktop. Caught in the glare of headlights, he swerves.

“But new research suggests that contrast sensitivity can be improved with brain-training exercises. In a study published [in March] in Psychological Science, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and Brown University showed that after just five sessions of behavioral exercises, the vision of 16 people in their 60s and 70s significantly improved.”

Read more at the NY Times, here, or go straight to “Improving Vision Among Older Adults: Behavioral Training to Improve Sight,” here. Authors Denton J. DeLoss and George J. Andersen are from the University of California, and Takeo Watanabe is at Brown.

stairs

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