Ageing with attitude: Marching to a very different beat
If you need some inspiration to prevent your ‘keep fit’ new year resolution slipping downhill, then look no further than a group of high-kicking cheerleading retirees, called The Sun City Poms.
These amazing women, average age 70 — with the youngest 56 and the oldest 84 — can do acrobatic moves that would put many a younger person to shame, as a result of training hard regularly at their retirement community in Sun City, Arizona.
The Poms consist of two units — a marching unit and a performing unit — with some of the current 27 members participating in both.
They perform their agile routines at many events, including private parties, clubs and schools, with the women doing pinwheels, pyramids, handstands, and some even doing splits.
More recently they featured in a TV commercial for a pain-killing drug called Advil, in which a voiceover to video footage of the high-kicking ladies, asked the question “what muscle pain?”
They are not just entertainers: they aim to shatter conventional images of ‘senior citizens’ and to show that life can be fulfilling at any age.
“We see ourselves as a group of young-at- heart senior ladies and because we are well known for our acrobatic routines, as well as performing dances to modern jazz and country numbers, we aim to be ambassadors for a healthy, active lifestyle for senior citizens,” the director of the Sun City Poms, Greta Paulsen, tells Feelgood.
Behind the scenes, to become a member of either the performing unit or the marching unit requires a huge time commitment, she says.
The marching unit practises for 45 minutes every Monday morning, September through April, but to learn the marching routines also requires a lot of practise outside of the regular practise times.
“Marchers must be in a physical condition which allows them to be able to march 2½ miles, performing the dance routine continuously. The marching unit appears in about seven to eight parades per year with lengths varying from about a half mile to parades with two-and-a-half mile lengths.”
For the performing unit — average age 71 — there are two mandatory practises of two and a half to three hours in duration each, one on Monday mornings and the other on Thursday mornings. In addition, Poms in training need to attend two optional practise sessions for two hours each on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The optional practise allows the trainees to learn the dance routines as well as they serve to help the experienced Poms hone their skills and become more proficient performers.
Many of the Poms also have personal fitness regimens. Several do bicycle riding and conditioning, at one of the seven recreations centres in Sun City.
If reading this workout routine leaves you breathless, hopefully it might inspire you too, to complete your own fitness goals for this year and to appreciate that age is not an obstacle.
The Poms are so admired, they have featured in documentaries and on television including the widely viewed NBC Today Show in America, Greta proudly reports.
But they are also an inspiration to the younger generation, particularly when they perform at school events, she adds.
“Possibly the most fun place where I enjoy performing is in high school assemblies. I am old enough to be everyone’s grandmother and some of the Poms could even be great-grandmothers, and the students are shouting at the top of their voices when we do our pyramids, angels, and baton twirling. It is, again, an opportunity to show students that life can be lived to the fullest even after retirement.
“The Marching Poms also find it exhilarating to hear the reaction of the parade goers cheering them and yelling out compliments and encouragement. It is not uncommon to hear comments about how wonderful one looks and how envious the spectators are of the Poms’ ability to march and perform in the manner they do,” says Greta, who is aged 68.
To be both a proficient marcher and a performer requires a dedication to the Poms, that is often at the expense of other activities though, she admits.
But it’s well worth it — aside from the positive pay-back they receive from their audiences, being so fabulously fit is good for the ageing brain as well.
“The Poms will be quick to tell you that being a Pom enhances their mind because of the extensive memorisation of the dance routines, the requirement to focus our attention and our minds on learning the routines,” says Greta.
She herself retired to Arizona five years ago and said learning to dance at 64 was “a lot more different than learning at age six”.
“I had to discipline myself to practise and memorise. The extensive practising has also kept arthritis in my shoulder under control and helped keep flexibility in a knee which my doctor had told me would need to be replaced within a few years.”
But the impact goes deeper: “Being a Pom has been a challenge for me to move past personal feelings of inadequacy, and the satisfaction of knowing that at even after retirement, I can embark on new ventures,” says Greta.
Want to keep your brain in tip-top shape? As a nutritionist, Maccaro who is the author of several books on food issues, argues that diet plays a hugely important role in doing so.
She goes so far as to say memory loss is avoidable as we age, if we educate ourselves on our brain-healthy diet and stick to it.
Her book is divided into five sections, each with several short chapters.
The themes of the sections are: nutrition and brain function; your brain and your mental health; your brain and physical health; rebuilding your brain, and your healthy brain.
Having explained the source of her nutritional arguments, she also rounds the book up, with a brain-boosting shopping list for you to follow.
85-year-old marathon man leaves scientists bemused.
Among his most famous films are Thelma & Louise, Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner and more recently The Martian.
Now aged 79, British film director Ridley Scott is to receive the Directors Guild of America’s top honour, the lifetime achievement award for distinguished achievement in motion picture direction.
It will be presented at the Annual DGA Awards on February 4 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
“Over four decades, his trailblazing career has demonstrated the impact and importance of the director’s singular vision,” said DGA president Paris Barclay.
“For these reasons, and so many more, we are honoured to present the Lifetime Achievement Award in feature film to Ridley Scott.”
The award is selected by the present and past presidents of the guild. To date, 34 directors have received the honour.
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