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CP/Aaron Harris)
Karen Kain keeps a watchful eye over a master ballet class in Toronto. The retired prima ballerina is among a new generation of women who aren't so fearful about joining the 50-and-over set. (CP/Aaron Harris)

TORONTO (CP) - Karen Kain turned the ballet world on its head for three decades. At 51, the Hamilton-born beauty is still turning heads. The retired prima ballerina now works feverishly as artistic associate at the National Ballet of Canada. And at the Dancer Transition Resource Centre she helps former dancers get back in the workforce.

Kain, along with countless others her age, is a far cry from the stereotypical 50-plus woman of yesteryear who kept her age hush-hush or felt life ended at menopause.

"My goal has always been to accept aging gracefully, and that doesn't mean you give up," said Kain, just back from a European holiday where she savored wine and cheese without worrying about her weight.

For Kain, not giving up means indulging in regular massages and facials. Her knees ravaged by years of dancing, she has hung up her ballet slippers, instead bending and twisting to yoga to keep her body and mind fit.

Kain credits her gung-ho attitude to a stable marriage (to entertainer Ross Petty) and steady work. But she also has her serious moments.

"It's a very thought-provoking time," she says about the 50-plus years. "You see your life passing and realize you're closer to the end of your life than the beginning of your life. And I think that as a dancer, you're very cognizant of the passing of time and how your body changes over each decade, but you have to learn to accept that."

Accept, but not give up.

Women in the new book Fifty Celebrate Fifty (Meredith Books, More magazine) - including actors Susan Sarandon and Diane Keaton, singer Reba McEntire and Methodist pastor Ruth Widmann - say they've developed self-confidence over the years.

Sultry red-head Sarandon, for one, says "experience is sexy. And today, women can be sexy and 50."

Nearly one-third of Canadians are 50 and over, and the numbers are swelling as people live longer.

Elizabeth Abbott, dean of women at the University of Toronto's Trinity College, says 50-pluses are brimming with confidence because they grew up in the liberating '60s.

"Women were given free reign starting in the '60s," says Abbott. "A culture arose where women could bike to work, walk and get sweaty and wear sweat pants and it was absolutely fine, whereas the generation before that couldn't do that.

"Now, we're an aggressive, educated, non-shy generation, and we want to enjoy life."

And women are more open about the choices they make - whether it's to join the growing group of older mothers, go back to school or date younger men.

Abbott, who's 50-something, says she didn't hide entering her sixth decade. In fact, she made her co-workers buy her a cake.

"I don't think (turning 50) brings shock waves or anything like that. Women in their 50s . . . may agree you can't see as well, or your feet probably hurt more. But they also experience that for most women . . . menopause is nothing - it's an easy process and it's a big relief to find out all the awful stuff about it isn't true.

"Ultimately," adds Abbott, "turning 50 isn't a big deal. It's just another season in your life."

To make the transition into the 50s easier, more women than ever before are augmenting their looks - a decision widely being accepted as a matter of personal choice.

Women get cosmetic surgery at 10 times the rate of men, and 51- to 64-year-olds are among the fastest-rising group to go under the knife or have some other procedure, says the American Society of Plastic Surgery based in Illinois.

Dr. Wayne Carman, a Toronto cosmetic surgeon, says about half of his patients are over 50 - a group that can most afford the time and money to undergo cosmetic work like a facelift or fat removal through liposuction - and most want to "look better or fresher, not necessarily younger."

Joyce Damsell of White Rock, B.C., says she was supported by her husband and the other residents of her townhouse complex when she turned to laser surgery to boost herself following a successful battle with cancer five years ago.

Damsell, 66, spent $5,000 to have facial lines and wrinkles zapped and her skin tightened through laser work. She'd lost 20 pounds from her five-foot-eight, 140-pound frame quickly during cancer treatment, and her laser decision "was an effort to sort of get back what I lost," she said.

The procedure was "scary" at first, she said. It left her face oozing with fluid and red and raw skin - common following laser work. But after months of healing, her face is now "like night and day," she says.

"I'm very pleased I did it. I was at an all-time low for a little while there and I needed something to boost my morale."

Abbott said dyeing her hair is about the extent of her own looks-maintenance efforts.

"There's nothing wrong with looking your age," she reasons.

Jayne MacAulay, a senior editor at FiftyPlus magazine, says turning 50 eight years ago was liberating, and the key to staying glamorous is keeping fit. She exercises, pays $50 an hour for a personal trainer and rides her horse.

"I think it's a great age and I don't feel any less capable physically and I want to keep it that way," says MacAulay.

"I don't agree that as you get older you have to get fatter and weaker, but I do think it takes more effort to maintain your health and strength."

Like Abbott, MacAulay says she'll never undergo cosmetic surgery, although some of her older friends have had it.

"I've earned every line on my face and I like the fact my hair is going grey, maybe because of the way it's going gray," says the mother of a 25-year-old daughter.

"But then again, plastic surgery is a personal decision, and I don't think anyone who wants to have it is doing something wrong."

Quotes about women in their 50s:

"I have loved being in my 50s; I've found it liberating and I care less about what other people think now than I ever used to. I just enjoy myself more." - Jayne MacAulay, 58, of Uxbridge, Ont., senior editor at FiftyPlus magazine.

"Just a few years ago, you wouldn't hear a woman, especially a woman well known in the public eye, talk about facing, turning or being 50. Happily, that's changed. Today, we view the middle years as rich with possibility, abundant with new challenges, blessed with wonder." - Connie Collins in the new book Fifty Celebrate Fifty (Meredith Books).

"What you appreciate when you get older is that time passes very quickly and you have to savour it. I try to enjoy life, and most times I do." - Karen Kain, 51, retired prima ballerina with the National Ballet of Canada.

"There are no more set rules anymore about how old you have to be to do anything. Life is not as rigid as it used to be before the 1960s. . . . The '60s revolution was not just a sexual revolution; it was the age revolution." - Elizabeth Abbott, dean of women at the University of Toronto's Trinity College, who's in her 50s

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