Dancing is key to my longevity, says 102-year-old

A 102-year-old woman with a lifelong love of dancing has said that actively taking up the hobby in later life has been "beneficial" to her longevity.

Josie said she had always dreamed of dancing like Fred Astaire, and decided to take up tap and ballet at a dance school in York when she turned 60.

For her recent birthday, she was surprised by another famous dance idol, former Royal Ballet dancer Wayne Sleep, who sent a personal message encouraging her to "keep going".

Josie said: "If you took dancing away from life, there would a lot of pleasure gone from it."

"It's been a big part of my life just watching it," she explained.

"If there wasn't Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire to watch, there'd be hours of pleasure missing".

Josie said that after decades of observing, she decided to try out dancing for herself, fulfilling a long-held ambition of learning to dance like the stars she admired.

While she had concerns about starting at the age of 60, her teacher, Ms Dunn, whose dance school closed in 2009 after 65 years, "insisted my age was not an issue", Josie said.

She went on to dance for many years, reaching what she said was "a decent standard", and even performed on stage in a top hat and tails.

Josie said she credited her love of dancing with playing a key role in her longevity.

"I think all the dancing was beneficial, given my age," she said.

"They say now how important it is to keep fit and active. When I danced, I didn't know I was exercising – to me, I was just dancing and having fun."

Dancer Sleep's birthday message to Josie, arranged by the Age UK social group she regularly attends, included a video of the star dancing up to the camera.

Addressing Josie directly, Sleep told Josie: "I heard you started dancing like Fred Astaire when you were 60.

"Keep going, darling - I know you're over 100."

Josie said she met Sleep in person years earlier, outside York Theatre Royal's stage door, to give him paintings of the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky which she had created herself.

Sleep took them and "gave me a kiss on my cheek" as thanks, she recalled.

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