How to age well: an exercise for seniors where you can really sparkle
- With an average age of 72 years, cheerleading squad ‘Japan Pom Pom’ practise weekly, perform in popular charity shows and appear periodically on TV
- ‘I forget everything while I’m dancing,’ says the squad’s energetic 89-year-old founder
Pom-poms rustle and silver shoes flash as “Japan Pom Pom” practises, moving to a lively, cheer dance beat. With members aged 60 to 89, they’re no ordinary squad.
But don’t you dare call them grannies.
“Right at the start, we weren’t very happy about being called ‘granny cheer dancers’,” says Fumie Takino, the bubbly, energetic 89-year-old who founded Japan Pom Pom – average age: 72 years – more than 25 years ago.
At a recent weekly practice, resumed after a year off, mask-wearing members checked temperatures before stretching, then moved into their dance routines – socially distanced, of course.
Though most wore sweatpants and T-shirts with a glittery “Japan Pom Pom” logo, for performances they don sequinned, miniskirted cheer costumes. For one routine, Takino wears a leather biker jacket and shades; in another, all sport silver wigs.