Dancers take to bikes to celebrate art

It was dance – but not as we know it.

Dancers recently took to their bikes to celebrate New Zealand Dance Week in a carefully choreographed routine performed on Aotea Square.

The Seniors Dance troop, who have an average age of 75, delighted onlookers with their Bike Ballet routine during the week.

In celebration of New Zealand Dance Week, April 22 – 30, the Company of Seniors performed Bike Ballet over three days.

The dancers performed loops, figure eights, and tricks during the routine.

New Zealand Dance Week (NZDW) is an annual event organised by DANZ for elevating the presence of dance.

The aim of the week is to get New Zealand dancing and highlight the value and joy the art-form can bring to society.

Founder of Seniors Dance, Susan Jordan, said she does not train and inspire the seniors for money.

These days her passion is for the love of dance.

 “My pockets may be empty but my heart is juicy,” said Jordan.

Susan Jordan established the Graduate Dance Programme at Auckland University.

Seniors Dance is a return to her roots and her love of creating contemporary dance pieces, and it is an enjoyable way for older adults to stay active.

Jordan advertises her classes to help seniors to:

–              Build balance and co-ordination.

–              Keep joints mobile and strengthen muscles.

–              Address physical, mental and social wellbeing.

Bike Ballet performer, Michael Adams said he had found synchronized swimming “rather quaint” but now had a new respect for their ability.

“In the third and final performance on Friday I forgot about my loops.

“I have a short concentration span. I lost focus in the last performance and made a few errors.

“I hope nobody noticed too much.”

Jordan says she researches memory, as she is interested in how dancers remember a sequence.

“I have to be careful not to destroy my dancers in the process.

“I have named everything into ballet moves. It is easier to remember names of moves rather than the entire choreography for a performance.”

And things can go wrong, Jordan says, testing the seniors’ memory to the max.

“Today we had two of our bikes locked together, so we had to improvise by borrowing two bikes.

“This added another complexity for Barbara and Liz who had to concentrate not only on the routine but on using a different bike.

“Liz had the sequences taped to her bike, so it added another challenge for her to overcome.

“It created added pressure, but I’ve trained the seniors to just keep going even when things go wrong.

“Some people rely on the music to guide their moves but you can’t totally rely on music as it can be difficult to hear in the openness of Aotea Square.

“Everyone is different.

“Michael forgot his loops today, but you have to keep moving.”

Fortunately the public did not appear to notice any mistakes.

An onlooker. Philippa Price, who lent her bike to one of the performers said, “Unless you knew the routine you would not have known anything was amiss.”

Jordan says it is possible to learn new pathways as we get older.

 “I don’t teach dance as a therapy, but it is therapeutic to people of all ages.”

Most of the Seniors Dancers had careers that prevented their dancing.

“Some people find they did not have time to take up dance as a hobby when they were younger.

“Many put daughters through dance educations but only find time later in life to take it up.”

“The seniors are supposed to practice on their own, whether they do or not is a different story,” Jordan said.

New Zealand Dance week provides an opportunity to celebrate the talents of local dancers and choreographers.

Jordan says dance allows communities to be introduced to new ideas.