Step in time

Dancers are stepping in time to help residents go back in time.

The Silver Steppers dance their way around memory care, assisted living and nursing home facilities in Tyler, Texas, and surrounding communities. Performers wear snazzy costumes to their pick of the polka, tango, cha-cha, rumba, samba and East Coast Swing. For the grand finale, four couples dance a choreographed Viennese Waltz.

In response, residents dance, tap to the beat and sing along to those oldie-but-goodie tunes like Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue.”

“Anybody that calls us, we will come dance for them,” said Jenny Norris, to the Tyler Morning Telegraph. “If we can make people smile, that’s all we care about it. They enjoy it, and in return, (the Silver Steppers) enjoy it too. We just love to dance.”

The Silver Steppers are a nonprofit group of dancers, mostly in their 50s and 60s, who don’t charge for their 30-minute performances and pay for their own costumes. The troupe of 14 dancers met socially through dancing and have been performing together for about two years. 


Topics: Activities , Alzheimer's/Dementia