Still Dancing, Still Playing, Still Becoming

Twice a week, in an unassuming community center in Billings, a group of women gather to rehearse. They stretch, count, laugh, remember steps, and help one another through the routines. They are the Golden Dancers, and since 1988 they have been challenging what many people assume aging is supposed to look like.

Their story began with friendship, loss, and the desire to stay connected. In 1985, Gayle Larson and Elaine Schulz met in a YMCA Gentle Gym class. Both were recent widows, looking for movement and companionship. A few years later, after learning that another community had a senior women’s dance group, they decided Billings could have one too.

Gayle found Mana Lesman, a dance teacher and choreographer, and Mana agreed to teach the group. What started with a small gathering of senior women at a local senior center became something lasting. They were nervous before an early performance for nursing home residents, but soon discovered they loved dancing for an audience. From those early beginnings, the group grew into a place where women could practice, perform, and share joy with people across the community.

That spirit still carries the Golden Dancers today. Their story is not simply about performance. It is about connection, purpose, and the kind of belonging that helps people keep moving, keep creating, and keep offering something meaningful back to the world around them.

Mana has guided the Golden Dancers with care, creativity, and imagination. More than 70 women have participated in the group over the years, some for more than 20 years. The minimum age is 55, but the spirit of the group is not defined by age. It is defined by friendship, practice, joy, and the willingness to keep showing up.

Mana began studying dance when she was just 3½ years old and later took up the art of teaching. For nearly four decades, she has shared her love of dance with the women who named themselves the Golden Dancers. She describes dance as “paintings come to life in time and space with music,” a fitting image from an artist who helps movement become story.

The dancers joined for different reasons, but many found more than they expected. Susan Nelson first came for exercise and found friendship, acceptance, movement, memory, concentration, and fun. When she dances, she said, her problems and body aches “simply disappear.” The group also gives her a place to belong as she is. “We’re a team and, more than that, friends.”

Leslie Blaize joined after relocating to Billings and looking for ways to meet people. Her daughter saw an article about the Golden Dancers and encouraged her to check it out. Leslie calls it one of the best decisions she has made since moving.

For others, the group became a welcoming place to begin, or begin again. Lynda McKnire had no previous dance experience but felt right at home, and now in her 80s says she wants to “keep on dancin’.” Birdie Dapples, who has danced since childhood, calls dance a favorite form of expression and exercise. Linda Faye joined after Covid, when loneliness was so present, and says the group shares “our joys, our sorrows, and of course, our love of movement.” For her, the purpose is clear: “As we give joy, we receive much joy back.”

That may be the heart of the Golden Dancers. They work hard, learn the choreography, support one another, and then carry that work into the community. They remind us that aging does not erase creativity, purpose, or the need to be connected. We still have stories to tell and gifts to offer, especially when we keep showing up for one another.

The Golden Dancers are looking for new members and places to perform. For community events, senior living communities, gatherings, or programs looking for meaningful entertainment, they offer a living reminder that joy, movement, and connection belong at every age. To learn more, email development@alliesinaging.org or call 406-294-1588, and Allies in Aging will help put you in touch with the Golden Dancers.

You do not need a lifetime of dance experience to join them, or to find your own path of connection. Join something, create something, book something, or begin something that helps you feel connected to this life we live.

Allies in Aging blog is brought to you by Altana Federal Credit Union