New Beat at the Senior Center

The throbbing beat of the Electric Slide pulsed out of a boom box Friday and dancers gyrated to the music.

No, it was not a party – just the new, everyday way to get seniors moving at the center on East Front Street.

Center Director Sharron Brown furnished the mix tape and the encouragement to get up out of chairs and onto the dance floor. Seniors have learned a variety of dances, including the Cha Cha Slide, the Cupid Shuffle and the Mississippi Mud Slide.

“There’s too many of our seniors who do not want to leave the building at all,” Brown said. “This is home. They sit and talk – they need something to do.”

Quite a few seniors have taken up the challenge, Brown said. Her daughter Shona and god-daughter Ashley came in last Tuesday to teach the Cha Cha Slide and Brown said, “They know how to do it today.”

The center’s male members watch the dancing and some say they will join in, but never do, Brown said, adding, “They need to do just that.”

In keeping with the center’s theme, “It’s all about you,” Brown said, she is trying to get holdouts to give line dancing a try.

“Shirley Crawford is the main person,” Brown said. “She likes to sit. My goal is to get her moving.”

This writer has been a senior center member since turning 55 in 1993, but pleaded a lack of coordination Friday to avoid embarrassing myself on the dance floor. Besides, I do a lot of walking.

--Bernice Paglia