Senior Stars of “Gotta Dance” Find Old Gold in New Moves

By Robert Dominguez, Daily News

July 31, 2009

The NETsational Seniors

The NETSational Seniors Hip Hop Dancers host a hip hop dance event in Times Square.

Documentarian Dori Berinstein was searching for the subject of her next film when she read that the New Jersey Nets were holding auditions for hip-hop dancers to perform at the halftime show.

The hook? Sexy young things need not apply — the tryouts were for senior citizens only.

Right then, Berinstein knew who her documentary would be about.

“I had no idea what my movie would be,” says Berinstein, 48, who is also a Broadway producer. “But I had it in my mind for the longest time that it would celebrate aging and put the message out there loud and clear that age doesn’t matter — unless you’re cheese.

“I come from Hollywood and Broadway, and I’ve seen blatant ageism, especially in certain areas of the film business where you hit 35 and you age out. Yet in theater, age is revered. I have role models in their 70s, 80s and 90s, both onstage and behind the curtain, and that’s how it should be.”

Inspired, Berinstein grabbed her camera crew and quickly gained permission to chronicle the lives of the elderly hoofers, ages 60 to 83, who had passed the audition.

The result is “Gotta Dance” (see review on the previous spread), which follows 12 women (and one man) from New York and New Jersey who defied convention and creaky joints to become unlikely stars at center court.

“These were not people who were professional dancers,” says Berinstein, whose last film was “Show Business: The Road to Broadway.” “They were from all different walks of life. They were grandmothers and secretaries and postal workers, and they just had an unfulfilled dream about doing something so out of the box.

For Claire Gaines of Manhattan, being a member of the dance team means more than just getting the chance to do something “totally fun and different” after retiring from a long career as a director of grant development for the public school system.

“We really like being a part of something that shatters myths about growing older in our society,” says Gaines, who at 64 is “one of the babies” on the team.

“I couldn’t be happier being able to help break down these unfortunate stereotypes.”

“People are shocked when they know my age and see how quick I am on my feet,” says 

Deanna Schwartz, 67, who still works as a legal secretary at a large Midtown law firm when she’s not performing once a month at Nets games.

“I’m really tired of the advertising world putting down people over 50, 60, 70. What this movie does is inspire people to follow their dreams, whether it’s dancing or painting or whatever. What does being ‘old’ have to do with anything?”

The concept of seniors shaking and shimmying and being forever young has spread beyond Nets games. A “Gotta Dance” program that gets older folks up on the floor to learn new moves was recently introduced on a major cruise ship line.

And Berinstein, whose Broadway credits as a producer include “Legally Blonde” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie” is currently in talks to bring a show based on “Gotta Dance” to Broadway.

She says she can’t divulge details yet, but she’s sure she’ll have no problems with casting. 

“You can imagine the depth of talent,” she says, “that Broadway has of people over 60.”

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