Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? This amazing video shows 80 and 90-year-old geriatrics… hip hop dancing.
They can really move! Age hasn’t stopped the fire inside of them at all. Watch them pop, lock, crunk, and even moonwalk across the stage.
Nobody thought they could do it… except for the group’s founder and leader, Billie “Billie J Buzz” Jordan. After a terrifying near-death earthquake experience, Billie decided she needed to live her life to the fullest.
“I thought… my gosh, I don’t know if I’ve even done as much as I wanted in my life. So I moved to this little Island, Waikiki… and the people that I was meeting every day were senior citizens and they had the same attitude as me: like ‘oh my gosh, am I going to die and have I done enough?'”
She had no idea how to dance at all, but the seniors absolutely loved it. Together, they all learned to appreciate and perform hip hop, a new music and dance style to many of them.
They had a clear goal: after 8 months of practice, they would head over to the Hip Hop World Championships, the so-called Olympics of hip hop dancing.
It was no easy feat, says Jordan. “We had one person who was blind. A whole lot of them have dementia. The average age is 80. I’ve got no dance experience. Who on earth were we kidding? But 8 months later we were performing at the World Championships for hip hop… and we’re now in the Guinness World Records as the oldest dance group in the world.”
“You do have to do things that are dangerous. If you don’t do that, well, you’re not really having a happy life.”
Kara “Kara Bang Bang” Nelson, age 95, is one of the breakout stars of the group. With clever grandma-like wryness, she says, “I live on my own. If I don’t go out and enjoy things, I might have to stay home and cry.”
Maynie “Quick Silver” Thompson says, “It makes me feel alive, and bit younger. I had my 96th birthday on Tuesday, and [dancing] makes me feel like I’m not as old as all that.”
Billie J says that it has been absolutely life changing for her. Coming from a rough childhood background, with no contact with friends or family, her dance group has completely transformed her life for the better. She says, “I’ve now got this close knit family. I’ve got mothers coming out my ears, sisters in the hood in the hood, in the crew, coming out my ears… I now feel connected with the world. I thought the world was an unhappy place, and now I’m just surrounded by these great, amazing women.”
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