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I don't think they know what to expect. Here a bunch of old ladies | :00:11. | :00:17. | |
with shiny costumes and a a bunch of old ladies with shiny costumes and | :00:18. | :00:20. | |
they a lot of make-up, and, what are they going to do? Then as we start | :00:21. | :00:29. | |
getting into it, oh! People go, how can she do that?! | :00:30. | :00:38. | |
It makes us feel young and everybody applauds. | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
When I do the splits that really gets the attention. | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
It is like you are back in high school. | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
You feel special because that is how everybody looks at you. | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
Look at those old ladies, they can really go. | :01:03. | :01:10. | |
Sun city. An active new way of life. The concept of retired living, | :01:11. | :01:22. | |
embraced with enthusiasm, looking ten years younger, it would be great | :01:23. | :01:29. | |
to live there for the rest of our lives... | :01:30. | :01:41. | |
This is my normal path from my home when I go to golf practice. Here in | :01:42. | :01:50. | |
Sun City golf carts are not just use for golfing. We use them as a second | :01:51. | :02:02. | |
vehicle. They are basically totally rebuilt the golf cart. Excuse me | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
while I watch the traffic. Then they put in a different rear end, | :02:09. | :02:15. | |
normally a golf cart only goes about 12 mph. Right now we're pretty close | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
to 28 mph. The speed limit is 25, but they never drive 25. | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
OK, let's go dance. Let's see you take the pyramid... | :02:30. | :02:45. | |
Just go up, it will be fine... We are a senior dance group in Sun | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
City, Arizona. We are 55 years old, or older, most of us, older, and we | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
do choreographed dance routines, acrobatics, flying Angels... I just | :02:57. | :03:14. | |
learnt how to do the splits. Oh, my goodness! People are so surprised. I | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
am surprised also! I do the leg lift, and I do an angel, which is | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
when we get somebody's back and stretch out. I used to do a | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
handstand but I don't do that any more. | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
I was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis and 26 years old and | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
they told me I would be crippled by 45. I said, I will not let it | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
happen. This is as tight as I can get it. My palms are big enough that | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
I can hold on to them. Arms have to be straight, up, down, | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
you do the twisting, and that. It is really quite vigorous and very, very | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
hard. We have been practising a routine | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
and we will be performing that for the Veterans' Day parade, which goes | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
through central Phoenix. It is viewed by several hundred thousand | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
people. Three years in a row we have taken the outstanding marching group | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
award. We are hoping to make it four in a row this year. | :04:25. | :04:38. | |
I choreographed all the marching routines. I instruct the girls on | :04:39. | :04:48. | |
how to do what I choreographed. They might be somebody just walking | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
along, you don't realise it, they are a judge... | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
The challenge right now is there's just a couple of weeks until the | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
routine, we will do our best and show these people that we can get | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
out and do tricks and shakes for two and half miles, nonstop. | :05:07. | :05:18. | |
You have to get those 80-year-old feet... | :05:19. | :05:32. | |
We are the bad girls. I mean, she really got mad at me yesterday, she | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
yelled at me. I said, God, don't let her yell at me anymore! | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
Actually it was not her fault. They gave us the wrong directions and we | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
were running late. She is saying, we have to go right, it is on seventh. | :05:50. | :06:04. | |
I said Ginger, what is that street? I keep my costumes altogether. In | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
here, and this year is really... They like the shaky shaky. | :06:12. | :06:18. | |
Especially the men. And these are poms. You never know | :06:19. | :06:28. | |
when you are going to need them. This will be worn with the red | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
earrings and red tassles. You feel very attractive. I feel young. You | :06:35. | :06:41. | |
really do. And you feel special because it is how everybody looks at | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
you. I was forbidden to dance when I was growing up. It was just a | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
profession that my mother did not want any of us to have. My husband | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
was very old-fashioned. I was not allowed to work until we had our | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
three children in college. So when we moved here, we got here on | :06:59. | :07:05. | |
Thursday, by Monday I was in class. I was going to learn how to dance | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
event was the last thing I did in my life! Years of blood, sweat, and | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
tears, let me tell you! This is a picture of me when I was | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
little. Me and my sisters. That is my grandfather. I was petrified of | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
him. He was a very big man. He was from the old country, as they say, | :07:28. | :07:34. | |
he was an immigrant, he came from Bohemia. Modern-day Czechoslovakia. | :07:35. | :07:45. | |
I am a first-generation American. Nowadays women are stronger and more | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
sure of themselves and not afraid to fail. That is important, not being | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
afraid to fail. Because a lot of people do, they pick themselves up, | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
shake themselves off, start on the path, not the path they were | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
supposed to be the first place, but they succeed. And that is what I | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
seen young now. A courage that we were never even allowed to have. | :08:09. | :08:25. | |
This picture, I was 18 years old, my brother had the picture taken. | :08:26. | :08:33. | |
Although everybody cringed when I got out the baton, they didn't trust | :08:34. | :08:42. | |
me X? Here it is, there are many miles on this one! I don't dare | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
break another light. When I was a junior in high school I | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
was diagnosed with polio. In those days there were polio epidemics. My | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
back is affected, my left leg, so my paralysed. | :09:02. | :09:11. | |
My diagnosis was to exercise a lot, so baton twirling became a therapy. | :09:12. | :09:22. | |
This was my first group. Right out of high school, I started teaching | :09:23. | :09:36. | |
them. Then we went on to Pat's Paraders in Milwaukee. When I first | :09:37. | :09:45. | |
saw the cheerleaders perform it piqued my interest, but my husband | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
said, over my dead body. He had seen enough of me in show business and | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
performing for 20 years of our married life. So it was not until | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
after he passed that I realised, this is the time now for me, the | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
poms will be my new life. I should not say this, but I broke my | :10:08. | :10:18. | |
mother's knows! I was in a parade, she came up behind me, and I did not | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
know she was there, so I picked up my baton, and my mother was there, | :10:24. | :10:31. | |
and cracked her on the nose. Not one of my finer moments! A year ago I | :10:32. | :10:39. | |
was diagnosed with stage for breast cancer, which has missed aster into | :10:40. | :10:52. | |
my liver. It is like, well, I better catch up on all the things I should | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
have done before now. Chemotherapy just knocks your socks off. You just | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
have to make up your mind that you were glad to get the best of you. | :11:03. | :11:55. | |
I have been doing this since 2014. I absolutely love performing. And I | :11:56. | :12:03. | |
absolutely love being part of a group, with all the women. Hi, | :12:04. | :12:17. | |
honey, how are you? Ten litres? They took ten litres! I'll get back to my | :12:18. | :12:24. | |
car, OK? All right, I love you. SHE SOBS. | :12:25. | :12:49. | |
My husband is not in good health. He is pretty ill, almost bedridden. | :12:50. | :13:04. | |
But he wants me to have as complete a life as I possibly can. If I did | :13:05. | :13:11. | |
not have this... And is so fortunate to have so many friends and family | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
that can help, because it can't be him. They will come in and watch for | :13:16. | :13:16. | |
a while, it just means so much. I am going over to the recreation | :13:17. | :13:53. | |
centre, it is about 6am, and I will be on the elliptic machine for an | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
hour. Then I will do some strength exercises for about 15 minutes. Then | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
normally dance practice for two hours. But I will still do the | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
elliptic in the morning for an hour. Ageing is for wine and cheese. It | :14:11. | :14:18. | |
does not mean anything to me. At the Veterans' Day parade I play to the | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
audience. When I start moving out, I will say to the spectators, you | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
know, I'm pretty tired. I wonder if I should rest for a while. And then | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
they suddenly get concerned. Is there anything we can do? Do you | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
want to sit here? Then suddenly I will be down in a split. Oh, look at | :14:37. | :14:46. | |
her! I lived in Chicago all my life, until I moved to Arizona 20 years | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
ago. I don't have any immediate family. I was an only child. About | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
all that I have now is my husband and myself. I was pretty much a | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
career lady who went and did my own thing, in a field of men, mainly, | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
being in mathematics, there were men in my field and not very many women. | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
We spend so much time together it is like a sorority. So much a part of | :15:11. | :15:17. | |
my life now. My husband thinks it is a little frivolous, silly, for a | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
lady of 80 years old to be doing this, but of course, I don't think | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
so! Hello, hello. I have been at the doctors all afternoon. We are going | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
away and I wanted to get a shot of some kind before we left, but that | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
is not going to work. So I'm going to go away with the pain. So... Why | :15:39. | :15:45. | |
won't it work? Because you cannot get in. Once I see him it takes | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
another three, four weeks, before the insurance approves things. I | :15:52. | :15:59. | |
have a lot to look forward to. I have a crew is coming up to | :16:00. | :16:10. | |
celebrate my 85th birthday. Just fancy, glittery things, but the | :16:11. | :16:17. | |
black pants, and... Well, this will take care of me for the next few | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
weeks, if you can see all those, there are at least 15 in every | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
container. So this, it is not fact, this is all pills! That is what I | :16:30. | :16:37. | |
keep telling myself! I keep saying I'm going to retire. But I don't | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
know how. I just don't know how to retire. But little by little I will | :16:43. | :16:52. | |
edge out of it. Let's say that I hope I am around for the next grade. | :16:53. | :17:02. | |
Everything I do, every day, I think, I hope I am able to do this next | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
year. It is a funny feeling, when you are diagnosed with cancer. And I | :17:09. | :17:18. | |
have liver cancer, stage four. So, who knows? Did you see that? No, I | :17:19. | :17:37. | |
heard about it last night... Front page! And I kicking my leg right? | :17:38. | :18:02. | |
Get the elbow out to the front. I still seeing elbows over here. | :18:03. | :18:16. | |
We really have to get up to speed. We go practice in the morning, | :18:17. | :18:23. | |
walking. So we really give the neighbours a show. | :18:24. | :18:47. | |
They are always better in a parade. But they are out of practice. | :18:48. | :18:56. | |
Practice usually stinks. We will see you tomorrow, good luck. | :18:57. | :19:27. | |
I had at the other way the last time... I am feeling OK. It is a | :19:28. | :19:34. | |
little early, but I am anxious. All right, as we march, making sure | :19:35. | :19:57. | |
you are in a straight line. You have a smile on your face, and you are | :19:58. | :20:04. | |
not talking to anybody. Candy, gum, anything in your mouth, get rid of | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
it. Watch the spacing between lines, so you don't get too close. All | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
right, we are ready now. There is the flyover. | :20:15. | :20:40. | |
They look gorgeous. That is girl power, right there! It was euphoric. | :20:41. | :21:05. | |
You have two one half miles of crowds, yelling, waving flags, | :21:06. | :21:08. | |
cheering you. It was euphoric, really. You push yourself to do | :21:09. | :21:17. | |
things that you never thought you could do before. Sometimes you think | :21:18. | :21:24. | |
you cannot do it, but you like the little Indians that could. You know | :21:25. | :21:32. | |
that book? I think I can, I I can. It has fulfilled all my dream. I | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
would be lost without this. It is important in life to make as much of | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
a contribution that I can, in any way that I can. You feel like you | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
have a purpose, no matter your age, you have a purpose. | :21:50. | :22:03. | |
Most of my life I have prepared the end. I always think dying as a part | :22:04. | :22:10. | |
of living. Just do not let illness, age, anything else get you down. | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
Just keep going and do would you have got to do. The rewards will be | :22:15. | :22:16. | |
many. Do you want to hear my philosophy? I | :22:17. | :22:46. | |
was Miss philosophy among the Arizona seniors. All you can do is | :22:47. | :22:54. | |
sit down and laugh. And then do all they could you can, for all the | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
people you can, in all the ways that you can. In all the time that you | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
can, and as long as you can. And now that I have reached my golden years, | :23:05. | :23:13. | |
may he continue to aspire, to inspire, before I expire! | :23:14. | :23:19. |