4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Visual arts, literature,
theater, music & more
Dance at any age for health, fun and rhythm
By PATTY HARDIN
FOR COAST WEEKEND
hink you’re too old to learn ballet,
tap, contra or even square dancing?
With resolutions made in Jan-
uary possibly waning and 2019 nearly
half over, it’s never too late or too early to
make a new move.
T
Ballet
Jeanne Maddox Peterson, owner and
director of Maddox Dance Studio in
Warrenton, said there’s movement for
everybody.
“The oldest student I’ve had was 89,”
Peterson said. “She took tap and ballet and
had no previous background in dance. My
youngest student was 2 1/2 years old. She
kept up with dance all the way through
high school.”
“When you start dancing you tend to
want to do more active things in your
life,” Peterson said.
Movement affects a person’s cardio,
balance, alignment and coordination, she
added.
Two of her former students are physical
therapists at Columbia Memorial Hospital.
“ … They have been doing special
workshops for our kids and helping them
with certain problems that they have like
core strength and turn out of the legs or
back strength and balance,” Peterson said.
You also gain gain spatial awareness in
dance and movement.
“You learn to do your moves in the
space you have to dance in,” Peterson
said. “You learn to adjust, which is a good
lesson for life.”
Musicality is a large part of movement,
too.
“Any kind of dance or movement
is like a music lesson in itself because
there’s a rhythm that you need to follow
and the notes you need to know,” Peter-
son said.
Cheryl Cochran, owner of Beach Bal-
let in Long Beach, Washington, enjoys the
interconnectedness of dance and life.
“Dancing helps with everything. The
one thing I love about dance and how it
relates to academics and just real life is
you’re always working in rhythms and
patterns,” Cochran said.
“For younger students just memo-
rizing basic terminology, learning some
French, learning small combinations. It’s
all math-oriented. Dance combines engi-
neering, geometry.”
Cochran opened her studio in Septem-
ber and said her youngest student is 2 and
a half years old.
“We are a beginning studio so all the
students are beginners, but we are having
a great time.”
Cochran also has an adult ballet class.
It focuses on ballet barre technique and
ballet stretches. You are never too old to
learn to dance, she said.
“I would tell someone to come try a
class, be comfortable, do what you can
do,” she said. “The main thing is to have
a smile on your face, have fun and realize
that your body is thanking you.”
You also have to be conscious of what
your body reacts to.
“Everybody finds a little niche and
then you work into the other areas. In my
classes I always make sure to address each
student on something positive they did,”
she said.
People feel beautiful when practicing
ballet.
“I don’t care what size, what shape,
whatever you are, you are always going to
feel beautiful as a ballerina.”
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Students practice a ballet routine at a dance studio in Warrenton.
Contra and square dancing
Contra dance leader Dave Ambrose
agrees with Peterson and Cochran about
never being too old to dance.
“A person is never too old or too
young,” Ambrose said.
Indeed, at contra dances, a dancing par-
ent often holds a child who is too young
to dance.
Dancers have to adjust when dancing
contra.
“Since all ages are welcome at con-
tra dances, you may dance with a child,
an elderly person, possibly a frail person
or an energetic younger person,” Ambrose
said.
Craig Holt, president of the Hayshak-
ers Square Dance Club, and Sylvia Davis,
a longtime club member, said a two-hour
square dance is like walking 10 miles.
In addition to to social aspects of
square dancing, there are also added
health benefits.
“Dancing gets your heart rate up, keeps
your mind active and it’s a great aerobic
exercise,” Holt said.
Cheryl Cochran opens a ballet class by having her students stretch together.