Lexington, KY - After losing her husband and undergoing a knee surgery that kept her at home, 69-year-old Meral Devine said she was sitting around "getting really depressed" before discovering the Flat Out Fun Dance Team.
Forgoing bingo or bridge, Devine and her teammates shake, step and twirl their way to better mental, physical and emotional health with each performance they put on, including last year's performance at the YUM! Center in Louisville for Humana's 50th anniversary, which garnered the troupe a standing ovation.
Devine had extensive dance experience, but this program, she said, was just what she needed at this stage in her life. The dance team rehearses at the Beaumont Family Center YMCA, and many of the participants involved with SilverSneakers, a health program for older adults geared around physical activity and socializing, at the Y branch are now members of the dance team. They practice about twice a week on average.
Pam Pepper, 65, said she started out in SilverSneakers and noticed when the instructor, Robin Norris, began to integrate more dance elements into the exercises. She liked the movements and eventually got involved with the Flat Out Fun Dance Team, which Norris serves as the choreographer and coach for, almost four years ago.
Pepper said she learned to dance from "absolute scratch," and she's seen the group's fitness levels, not to mention dance skills, improve. "All of it is improved, that's a part of who we are," she said, adding that Norris always pushes them just over their comfort level.
And she never makes them feel "old," added 65-year-old Judy Fifield.
"Our class goes from about 60 all the way up to about 82," Fifield said. "Robin says there's no age limit; there's no limit to what you can do."
Fifield is a retired registered nurse and needed something to do when she retired. She said the bond she has formed with the team and its participants has been "tremendous."
"It just encourages us to do so much for ourselves," she said, adding that Norris makes them work hard and challenges them. "If you love it a lot like we do, then you're on the team. If you're on the team, you'd better hold your hands right, you'd better point your toes ... We've really come a long way."
Fifield and her teammates encourage new people to sign up for SilverSneakers, which ultimately serves as somewhat of a feeder system to the Flat Out Fun Dance Team. When she tells people about the team, Fifield said people often look at her in disbelief.
"I say, 'Well it's choreographed dancing to popular songs, show tunes, things like that,'" she said.
The group is excited about its new dances coming up, including "Johnny Be Good" and "Don't Rain on My Parade" from the popular television musical "Glee."
In November the group performed at several functions, including one for middle school students. Pepper said young people are always surprised when the dances begin, and for their senior citizen audiences, she said, it's a joy to see their expressions change when they dance.
Through the dance team, Devine said she has lost weight, become more active and lowered her blood pressure. And Pepper is a uterine cancer survivor.
"My doctors said since I was physically fit I was going to recover well from this," she said. "That became my motivation to get through the radiation and to return, because I didn't want to lose any more than I already had. That is a huge motivation for me to continue, because I have personal experience of the value in my life from exercise. And the joy."
For Norris, the team is a chance to motivate seniors to get out of their comfort zones and into better shape. She originally started the team with her elderly mother in mind. With a coaching and fitness background, Norris makes up all of the dances and teaches them to the team.
"It's fun, it's become sort of my passion," she said. "I love all aspects of it."
One aspect in particular is witnessing the group's physical improvements.
"Their balance has been amazing, and I can tell physically they're stronger, I can tell mentally they're stronger," she said.
Part of that is achieved by a no complaining policy when practices are going on.
"I've seen an attitude change with what they're going through," she said. "They have a more positive outlook on life." And that, really, is what Norris said it's all about -- bringing back the smiles.