Retired electrical engineer Dick Lane, 75, used to think dance classes were more for women — until two female friends persuaded him to join. Now a valued member of SeniorsDance, Lane retired from part-time work in 2015 and was concerned he would get lonely and bored.
Data compiled for the Herald on Sunday this month revealed that nearly one in three older New Zealanders spend their days alone while Age Concern says it is struggling to cope with a record number of requests for help.
Lane says as well as making a new group of friends, learning the dance steps — which are kept simple, safe and straightforward — helps improve his memory. He enjoys working with others to build something he hopes will entertain others.
"It's much more fun than going to the gym. I thought dancing was a ladies' thing but there were other men."
Fellow dancer Liz Nicholson, 72, joined SeniorsDance to keep active after a pulmonary embolism which laid her low for weeks. A former lecturer at Unitec, Nicholson still works part-time but looks forward to her dance classes.
"It keeps you moving, keeps you active," says Nicholson, adding that the tutors don't let dancers exceed what's safe for them.
Both she and Lane appear in Hunters and Gatherers, seven-minute public performances planned for supermarkets and funded by Auckland Council's Albert-Eden Local Board. As well as raising awareness of the health and wellbeing benefits of dance, the show humorously reflects on how we get our food and the environmental chaos this can cause.
Jordan, the founder of Dance Studies at the University of Auckland and with a career spanning five decades, was challenged by a friend to start a dance programme for senior citizens as part of the Creative Ageing movement sweeping the globe.
Creative Ageing uses the arts to help senior citizens enjoy and embrace getting older. Studies show elderly people involved in the arts are less likely to get ill and injured, as well as having an increased overall quality of life.
Auckland University researchers are already looking at the links between dance and slowing the progress of dementia while, last year, high-profile expatriate New Zealander Lady Rosemary Buchanan established a new postgraduate scholarship to investigate the positive effect of dance for people with dementia.
Lady Buchanan started ballet lessons aged 4, later going on to join the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company as a dancer before marrying John Buchanan who was knighted for services to industry. She says she's always been passionate about dance and was intrigued to hear of recent research that showed the benefits of the discipline on ageing.
"I wanted to give to the arts, particularly my art, which is dance. I'm excited by the ways different disciplines can be combined to improve lives."
• Hunters and Gatherers will be performed in eight Auckland supermarkets, April 24-26 between 1pm-4pm.
