[ti:Seniors Free of COVID Isolation Dance Together] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult on many groups of people. [00:05.92]But perhaps it has been especially hard for many older people. [00:12.92]Many months of being alone, or isolated, [00:16.96]has taken its toll on many senior citizens. [00:22.60]However, in some places, that isolation is coming to an end. [00:29.28]For example, in a senior center in New York City, [00:33.64]seniors shake their hips and stomp their feet [00:38.08]to salsa, cha-cha, and merengue music. [00:43.36]After two years of living in COVID-19 pandemic isolation, [00:49.00]Latin dance classes are getting them moving together again. [00:55.12]Despite illness and mobility issues -- including the loss of a leg [01:01.64]-- students are now able to take free classes [01:05.32]at the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood in upper Manhattan. [01:14.88]The dance instructor is 50-year-old Walter Perez. [01:19.40]He and his partner, an Argentinian tango dancer, [01:24.44]started the hour-long class in 2013. [01:28.92]Their goal was to teach Latin social dances at senior centers. [01:36.16]Perez said, "We saw how our students got happier [01:40.12]and improved their physical balance ... and they socialized." [01:46.04]Perez told reporters from Reuters news agency [01:50.56]that the classes start with seated exercises. [01:56.32]This way everyone, even those who have trouble moving, [02:00.76]can be included. [02:03.16]"...And then," he added, "we stand up and we dance a little bit." [02:10.20]One of the students is Felix Castillo. [02:13.92]Last year, his leg was amputated due to complications from diabetes. [02:21.44]The 74-year-old trumpet player said, [02:24.88]"I get emotional and need to dance when I hear salsa." [02:31.00]He said he feels the music and dances in his chair. [02:36.36]Despite dementia, Eugenia Peralta [02:39.92]cannot help but dance around the room. [02:44.36]The 89-year-old is known for her energetic moves on the dance floor. [02:50.68]For this, her fellow dancers call her "roadrunner," [02:55.28]said her daughter Jackie Peralta. [02:58.96]A roadrunner is known to be a fast-moving animal. [03:04.88]"COVID took a toll on her. ... Her mobility went down," said Jackie. [03:12.00]But now, her mother is active. [03:14.76]In fact, Jackie said her mother has a hard time staying still in one place. [03:21.92]Walter Perez, the instructor, said that when in-person classes started [03:28.08]after nearly a year's break, the stamina of the senior students was not the same. [03:36.72]He said, "...many were missing, so it was very sad. [03:41.12]But we were happy to be here and to come back, [03:44.96]to have this courage to keep going." [03:48.60]What drives Perez is the pleasure of dance. [03:53.48]He found this relationship with dance at age 21. [03:57.68]That was when his mother died. [04:01.76]"I went to the church to pray. Next to the church in Argentina [04:07.32]there was a tango place. So, I started dancing tango, [04:13.28]and it was therapeutic for me [04:16.28]and then became my profession and my way of living." [04:22.68]He added that the music and dance have a healing, [04:26.28]therapeutic effect on people. [04:29.60]He likens it to an embrace. [04:32.40]When the music is playing and you are dancing with others, [04:37.20]"...you are not alone, you are walking with the music in an embrace." [04:44.04]I'm Anna Matteo. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM