You Can Dance, If You Want to…

Last night I watched a documentary called Young at Heart. Released in 2007, the film follows a choral group from Massachusetts as they begin rehearsing for a show full of new songs. Catch #1: they sing rock songs. Catch #2: they are all senior citizens. The Young at Heart chorus, led by Bob Cilman, performs songs by the likes of The Clash and The Ramones with the gusto and verve of rowdy teenagers. Cilman picks an amazing group of songs, including “Dancing in the Dark” and “I Feel Good,” that take on new meaning when sung by a group whose average age is 80 years old. At times laugh-out-loud hilarious or heartbreakingly sad, the film does a better job of showing how to truly embrace and love life than any I’ve seen in a long time. When bad things happen, and I won’t get too specific, the filmmaker asks Cilman how the group continues to perform in the face of unbearable sadness. “I suppose the other question is, how do they not?” he replies, reinforcing the group’s belief that quitting was never on the table to begin with. What a waste it is for any of us to think negatively; to not seize every moment of joy. When you’re young, like me, you assume that you have all the time in the world to live and laugh. The chorus knows better than that.