“We wanted to spice up social events here at The Woods,” said an energetic Feliza Poling, a retired school principal, during a recent rehearsal of the Dancing Divas.
Blame it all on actress Diane Keaton. After a group lunch in 2018, Poling says the six friends saw the movie Poms starring Keaton, whose character starts a cheerleading squad at her retirement home. Inspired by the can-do message, the Beavercreek friends decided to start their own cheerleading squad to help keep fit—and to keep neighborhood parties fun.
“We wanted to get together and do some fun exercise,” adds Karen Notestine, a retired office manager.
With a high school cheerleader for coaching and choreography, the women learned basic cheering moves. When the community hosted its annual Halloween party that year, the squad was ready to debut a cheer for their neighborhood.
The reception was so positive, says Mary Hughes, a retired music educator, they knew they had to keep going.
Hughes, who also taught dancing earlier in her career, took on the role of choreographer and the cheerleading squad became a dance troupe.
“So there was not so much jumping around,” explains Notestine.
The Dancing Divas now perform at every community party—with costumes and music. They donned butterfly-like wings and swayed to “Witchy Woman” and dressed ala 1960s for “Dancing Queen” at clubhouse Halloween parties. Their “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” meant cowboy boots and hats. They try to prepare two dances for the annual Christmas party.
“We try to get the audience to dance with us,” said Poling. “We want to make sure others have fun too.”
That means getting the fellows up on the dance floor as well.
“Some of the men here are pretty good dancers,” said Judy Hart, who before her retirement, was up on her feet a lot as an ICU nurse.
Currently the Dancing Divas are putting the final touches on their routine for the Derby Day Party. Twirling in Spring dresses and hats to “Pretty Woman,” they rehearse every Monday.
Poling and Hughes generally select the songs but are always open to ideas.
“Each time the dance is a little different,” said Hughes. No one else in the group has any dance experience beyond childhood ballet and school musicals, so Hughes notes she keeps the moves simple. “It’s just dance. Sometimes it’s a little jazz. Sometimes fast. Sometimes slow.”
But always fun. They all note they spend as much time laughing as they do rehearsing. Disagreements are rare. In fact, when they aren’t rehearsing, these neighbors — several who have lived in The Woods for more than 20 years—may be part of neighborhood Mahjong, Euchre, Pickleball or group lunches or dinners.
“Nobody here is a Prima donna,” said Hart. And while there were a few butterflies before early performances, the Dancing Divas say their receptive audiences at their clubhouse performances keep nerves from flaring up.
“We’ve been doing this for so long now, it’s not hard,” said Cheryl Conley, a retired professor and researcher.
“These are our friends,” said Mary Wiesert, who retired after years in military sales.
Now, the Dancing Divas are planning to take their message about happiness through dance to a wider audience. Poling says the troupe made it their 2024 goal to take their dances to nearby nursing homes.
“Dancing works your whole brain,” said Hughes. “We’re trying to keep you going.”
Poling dances by. “
Yes. We have great brains.”
And all the Dancing Divas laugh.
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