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So why am I sharing my story with you?  Because I found myself asking who am I now and where to from here?  The answer led me to something quite unexpected and rather thrilling!  Which energised and awakened a new sense of purpose inside of me.  I began to wonder was I alone in my retirement experience, or were there others struggling with it too?  

So I approached an Australian organisation called the University of the Third Age (U3A), that specialise in offering lots of classes to people who are retired or semi-retired so they can retain a sense of connection with each other.  When I asked them if they were interested in me teaching a weekly Open Floor class the co-ordinator replied - “I’ve been waiting for something like this to come along!”

Since starting my Dancing with Life classes, I’ve discovered my niche, which is such a gift.  Teaching this group of women is truly satisfying because they don’t want to be treated as if they are old and over the hill (which is quite common).   They are looking to expand their horizons and flourish.
It also turns out some are still finding their retirement journey quite difficult to come to terms with – especially if their experience is relatively new.  We have all agreed it seems to take 2 years to settle into retirement – which is really the ending of the life you have lived before and the beginning of something new.   So, we dance with this.

Although they are open to exploring how to resource themselves through movement and dance, I’ve had to learn to adapt my teaching skills to develop a shorter class that suits different levels of fitness and physical restrictions.  I’ve learned to consider their strengths (rather than their weaknesses) and to add other layers of creativity to expand their movement experience, and to use chairs in different ways.  So far, what I’ve done appears to be working because I’ve seen expansion in their movement repertoire – which clearly brings them joy.

One thing is for sure – this is an older group of people who are hungry for moving with life but I have had to be willing to ask what’s working, what isn’t and how can I adapt my teaching approach so it works for them.

When I attended the Open Floor training it came as no surprise that most of the trainees were much younger, with only a handful of us over 50.  For the younger teachers are the future of Open Floor.  But what about us oldies, where did we fit in?  Here my life experience is relevant and has value – and it is truly magical to see this group of oldies learning to fly again, just like me!

As I said I’ve had to learn how to teach an older group of dancers, so I’m grateful to Kerry-Ann Stanton from New Zealand who gave me some excellent pointers when I began.  I’m also grateful to Deborah Lewin who offers a shorter online class, that’s structured in a way that enables me to go deeply, very quickly.  What I have realised though, is that while older people may struggle with physical agility, they also have bucket loads of life experience and creative imagination they can tap into, plus they seem to connect far more easily with soul.  As a teacher I am learning how to optimise those unique blessings!

When it comes to next steps, I’m really keen to share my experiences and to hear from others who are teaching older age groups (or would like to), so we can learn from each other.  Perhaps look at how can we work together to create something truly valuable in these people’s lives?  Please email me if you are interested at lucyfrench@bigpond.com.