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Young at Heart May 2022

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Peggy Pollard, Teacher www.PeggyDance.weebly.com Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing In-Person & Online Dances & Lessons Waltz Tribe membership Grow your mind, body & soul Dance to music you love Sign up Now for upcoming Classes! 1777-A Capitola Road, Santa Cruz 95062 www.seniornetworkservices.org A Nonprofit Community Agency Santa Cruz County's Official Information & Assistance Provider call: 831-462-1433 email: info@seniornetworkservices.org Unbiased, No Cost Medicare Counseling Santa Cruz call: 831-462-5510 San Benito call: 831-637-0630 email: hicap@seniornetworkservices.org Shared Housing I Housing Navigation I Home Help call: 831-462-6788 email: housing@seniornetworkservices.org Respite Registry I Respite Grants call: 831-462-0880 email: respite@seniornetworkservices.org SENIOR NETWORK SERVICES Mid-County...continued from page 1 tion to oil and scrub, they make Lavender salt soak, Lavender Cooking Sugar, Eye Pillows, Sachets, Bowl Cozies, and Teas, and plan to start doing soaps this year. "Every- thing is homemade and as all of us are members of the Center, we do this to give back to a place we enjoy being at so much." All proceeds go to the Senior Center to benefit the gardens. The Laven- der Ladies are offering a Lavender wand class June 24 and will be selling products at the Live Oak farmers' market Aug. 7. It's important to note that MCSC is member owned. "We are not funded by any government agen- cy," says Marilyn. "Our members, volunteers, and a volunteer Board of Directors manage the organization. We are community focused." An additional way the Center raises funds is through an on-site gift shop. Items sold include hats, scarves, socks, sweaters, and baby layettes, all handcrafted and donated by MCSC members. Proceeds help support the Center's activities. The Center is a very valuable part of the com- munity, for many reasons Our Terror and Our Triumph: Dance Performing for Beginners Thursday, April 28, 2022, Cooper Street, downtown Santa Cruz. "Dancing In the Streets" dance performance fes- tival. 6:39 pm: Surrounded by a cheering audience, our six dancers took a deep breath and stepped onto the stage for our world premier dance performance. This was our great moment of glory for our small, newly formed band of Waltz & Swing per- formers. We were feeling good, I'd say, even great, on average. But as often happens in such events, our confi- dence only solidified a scant hour before per- formance time, when we finally got to rehearse for the first time as a complete group. REWIND to 5 pm: After weeks of planning and fretting, an hour before performance, our final rehearsal solidifies our dancing. First, because we look so dang GOOD, all dressed in sophisticated black and white. Then, dancing in a circle, we give each other visual cues. We each get swept into our group momentum. Ragged skills smooth out. Every repetition feels better and better. We relax into the music, channel it through our hands and feet. We are in a "State of Flow" just in time for peak perfor- mance. 5:59 pm: All last glitches are smoothed out. Our cloud of worries evaporates into relief and delight. But for two dancers the stress still lingers. Not only new at performing, they had only recently learned the basics of Waltz & Swing dance. One having only practiced online with a broom. But they trusted the rest of us seasoned performers, who calmly assured them it would all turn out OK. And just in time, it was all working. We walked over to Coo- per Street stage. Waiting amongst the audience we giggled with nervous en- ergy. Ready or not, it was time to show the world what we've got. There is something so scary about a stage. It is so . . . PUBLIC! There it was, the 20-foot square Marley dance flooring taped on the as- phalt of Cooper Street. But it was not the empty gray space that was so scary. It was the boisterous throng of people crowded around it. Rows of children sitting cross-legged at the edge of the stage, gaggles of cheering teens, glowing after their performances of ballet, hip-hop, lyrical dances, for clusters of admiring parents and assorted street people. "Don't worry" I reassured my dancers, surveying the crowd of 100 around us. "No one will be watching us." "Wwwhatttt??" Confused stares melted into giggles, as my joke sunk in. Haha. Their unspoken jitters were defused. This fear of public performance is powerful, hard to shake off. The nervous tension. The cold dread in the deep pit of your stomach. Vague fears lurk about of not only imperfection but a deeper foreboding of mysteri- ous doom. Perhaps fear that your very worth as a person is under public scrutiny? Sounds a bit absurd when I write it out loud, though. doesn't it? And yet, somehow that fear inhabits deep within many of us, robbing us of our joy of sharing beauti- ful things in public. Why is that fear so strong? Risk of humiliation – fear of public shame -- is deep and universal. In fact, it underlies the number one fear of most people worldwide--public speaking. According to Toastmasters, the interna- tional coaching program for public speaking skills, many people even fear public speaking more than even death itself! And what is dance, but a form of public speaking? Dancers communicate our messages through move- ment, as we were about to do on Cooper Street stage. So how can we be freed from this nagging, often exaggerated, fear? By tapping into an even deeper primal instinct -- our need to connect. The flip side of fear is trust. Joining with fellow hu- mans in positive physical activities like dance, gives a wonderful sense of secu- rity. We feel safe when we feel valued, accepted, affirmed. No matter how skillful I am, (or not) it's the fact of WHO I am dancing, that sparks my joy in social dancing. As I saw yesterday down in Cowells Cove -- the largest group of Brown Pelicans I've ever seen in the waters. A thousand birds floating, fluttering wings, skimming above undulating waves, diving into the water to scoop up mouthfuls of anchovies. Their choreography was rhythmic, sublime, each bird individually free to move as they please, yet held together in harmony, feasting on the abundant fish below. The Pelicans cared not one whit what I thought of them. No worrying "are we clever, cool or good enough?" No. They just moving in spectacular joy with waves, wind and water. Our public dancing likewise is our opportu- nity for glory. It wields a cultural power to touch other lives. Our height- ened nerves are because we also know our perfor- mance will be recorded into public history, etched permanently into the psy- che of our audience. 6:40 pm: Back on Cooper Street stage, we join hands and begin. First steps into the circle center. 1 – 2 – 3 – KICK! Anxi- ety melts into excitement. We see each other, feel each other's hands bounc- ing swinging forward, slipping into a bigger group rhythm. Back out, lean forward, KICK! All turn left, raise arms up, pumping hands high to the sky. Glory Be! We are a dance team! 6:46 : I notice an older couple smiling on the sidelines, imitating our dance. Then another. Wow! Our dance joy is spreading. Not from impressive skills, but the joy we shine in dancing 6:49 pm: We bow to our cheering audience, feeling the joyful glory of dancing together, lifting each other up into higher strata of happiness than we can possibly reach on our own. So let us be like the Pelicans flowing together in their Pelican dance. Jump into the glory of dance with us and scoop up the bounty of joy into your life. Bigstock photo By Peggy Pollard, Santa Cruz Waltz & Swing www.Peggy- Dance.weebly.com already mentioned and more. For example, it is a pickup spot for partici- pants in the Grey Bears' weekly Brown Bag food distribution program. In addition, MCSC serves as a host for the annual Proj- ect SCOUT. This program provides free tax prepara- tion assistance to seniors (as well as to low-income individuals and people with disabilities). What is one of the best purposes of MCSC that everyone agrees on? If you're 50 or older, it's a fantastic way to en- rich your life through new activities and new friends. Debbie Sheehan, MCSC Board President, says, "I joined MCSC to meet people and make new friends, and I found them!" Donna Fernandez, MCSC Corresponding Secretary, has been a member for more than 20 years. "I volunteer on the Board and as a reception- ist at the front desk. Many of us here are long time members. We have three members that are 102! We're an active group and we have something for ev- eryone. Our membership is growing and so are our classes and activities." If you're interested in finding out more, MCSC encourages you to stop by and visit, or call for more information. Contact Info: mid-countyseniorcenter. com 829 Bay Ave., Capitola, 831-476-4711 Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday

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