Molly Shore Carl Schimmer is 83, but...
Molly Shore
Carl Schimmer is 83, but Mira Perec, his dance partner, will not
reveal her age. The couple, attired in glittery party clothes,
attended Tuesday’s Sweetheart Social Dance at the Joslyn Adult
Center.
“She could pass for 20 years younger than me,” Schimmer said.
Perec did drop a clue about her age when she admitted that
although she is older than Schimmer, she can match him step for step
on the dance floor.
“I enjoy it so much,” Perec said. “Dancing is life.”
The dancing duo performed the mambo, cha-cha, samba, tango, West
Coast swing and every dance in between at the afternoon event. Not
content to sit on the sidelines and listen as the Len Lebow Trio
played many of the old standards they have danced to for years,
Schimmer and Perec boogied, shimmied and waltzed to every number the
group played.
“They called us the king and queen of the House of Blues last year
when we went there on Valentine’s Day,” Schimmer said. “And we’re
going to go this year on Valentine’s Day, too.”
Many of the men and women who attended the Valentine’s Day-themed
dance dressed in red.
Lee Virgil, 80, wearing a red sweater, red heels and a white
skirt, exposed a bit of red garter when her dance partner Louis
Thomas, 70, twirled her around on the dance floor.
The couple, who often dance together at the center’s Sunday
dances, executed some smooth moves during the cha-cha number, “Cherry
Pink and Apple Blossom White.”
“He makes me look good,” Virgil said of Thomas’ lead.
As is often the case, there were more women than men at the dance.
Elsie Richardson, 79, sitting on the sidelines waiting to be asked
to dance, surmised that many of the men who attend the center’s
Sunday dances work during the week.
Her friend Bernice Schott, 70, nodded in agreement, and said the
Sunday dances draw big crowds, sometimes as many as 200 people.
Richardson’s patience was soon rewarded. Within a short time, she
was being led through a lively rendition of the swing classic, “In
the Mood.”