Tai Chi and Line Dancing at Senior Citizens’ Centre
(By “Someone Else”) Tai Chi has moved on from the demonstration phase to become a regular Friday afternoon fixture. Class start time is 1:30 p.m. on Fridays at the Donald Senior Citizens’ Centre.
(By “Someone Else”)
Tai Chi has moved on from the demonstration phase to become a regular Friday afternoon fixture. Class start time is 1:30 p.m. on Fridays at the Donald Senior Citizens’ Centre.
The extremely talented and experienced Li-Yan Warren is instructing and leading the classes. We are indeed lucky to have Li-Yan in our community. She has enriched our cultural lives and now our physical well-being in ways that would never have been imaginable just a few short years ago. As a Tai Chi teacher and practitioner, Li-Yan is beyond excellent.
Tai Chi is a low-impact, gentle exercise routine which is not designed to burn calories or raise your heart rate. Rather, it centres on whole of body balance and flexibility. Deep, slow breathing controls the rhythm of its graceful movements. It will take time and practice to acquire the flowing sequences, but newcomers to Tai Chi immediately recognise its beneficial qualities – the muscles that we might once have thought were being exercised remind us that we’re not quite as supple as we used to be.
For those unable to attend classes there are links to highly recommended videos on our Facebook page – Donald Senior Citz. But performing the routines in a group environment, led by an experienced instructor is an opportunity that is simply too good to let pass.
Line Dancing
First there was Saturday Night Fever but now there’s Wednesday Night Torture, well at least that’s what Line Dancing means to me right now. Hopefully, I’ll manage to put my right foot forward at some point in time.
Line dancing has been revived in Donald and 20-30 boot scooters regularly attend the Donald Senior Citizens’ Centre on Wednesday nights from 7 p.m.. Pam Rollinson, another multi-talent, leads the group through an ever-increasing array of dance steps. Not confined to country music, line dancing draws on disco, hip-hop, pop – anything really! And Pam has exposed us to all of them.
The particular variety of line dancing we seem to have adopted is focused on fun and laughter with a physical workout as a backdrop. Extremely enjoyable for the masses, highly embarrassing for one. Remembering the sequence of steps is key – the combination of memory, music and physical movement form a potent way to combat dementia, but that’s just an unintended consequence of a whole lot of fun. Come along and join in!
We have been able to deliver enhanced line dancing and Tai Chi tutorials and instructional videos via a large screen TV, which was purchased entirely from funds granted to the seniors by the First Look Op Shop. We are extremely grateful to the Op Shop for its generosity and appreciative of the work its band of volunteers who contribute so much to our community. Thank you!
The TV is available for the use of any approved community group utilising the Centre’s Hall – Probus being a likely candidate.
And it would be remiss not to thank Pam and Li-Yan for their generosity of spirit, taking the time and making the effort to impart the knowledge and abilities they have worked so diligently to acquire at a personal level, and then to teach and share those skills with us for our own enlightenment and enjoyment. Where would we all be without such teachers?
Without the physical presence and the day-to-day management of the Senior Citizens Centre none of this would be possible. The continued support we receive from the Buloke Shire is recognised and hereby acknowledged.
It’s worth remembering in these sometimes troubled times that we are indeed fortunate and that we should take advantage of the many wonderful things that are offered up so freely to us.
The club ethos is to engage with as many people as possible, offering a range of activities to entice attendance, thereby building and strengthening community connections and relationships in a social environment. That range of activities includes 500, Mahjong, Bridge, line dancing, Tai Chi, snooker and indoor bowls, all designed to improve both mental and physical health and with over 90 members, we are uniquely positioned to deliver. We take fun seriously!
We now have a dedicated mobile phone number – 0435 030 635 and our email address is donaldseniorcitizens@gmail.com
Feel free to contact us anytime or follow us on Facebook – Donald Senior Citz.
