Fun & Famous

dancing to the grave

Lately, I've been developing a greater fondness for the elderly. Sweet old grandpas and grandmas who stumble down the street and probably find the world strange and weird, with all those people staring at their screens and talking into headphones. I always find them so endearing, they've managed to get by in this world for so long, carrying so much wisdom or having learned so much craziness. Have you seen the movie The Intern? In it, we see Robert De Niro as a retired widower who starts a new adventure as an intern at an online store run by Anne Hathaway. De Niro is so adorable the whole time, really, your heart melts.

Anyway, recently I came across a short documentary about two 90-year-old ballet dancers who still practice their steps every week after their careers. Honestly, it is so intensely moving and beautiful. We see Marge Champion and Donald Saddler, who still move their 90-year-old bodies more gracefully than I probably would. The film lasts 20 minutes and is not only about dance but also about aging. Marge says about it: “In this society ‘old’ or even ‘middle aged’ are dirty words. Well I gotta tell you, they’re fighting the wrong cause. They’re gonna get older, and they might as well find ways to enjoy it.” And that’s just how it is.

So watch the film below during your lunch and suddenly you have all the desire to be 90 years old. Honestly.