‘We are too busy being active and enjoying ourselves to feel the aches and pains’: perceived health benefits of line dancing for older women

Abstract

This paper examines the perceived benefits of line dancing for a group of women between 60 and 80 years of age. It is based on a one‐year qualitative research study in Cape Town, South Africa. Line dancing has been classified as a form of aerobic exercise and this study sought to investigate whether these older women perceived line dancing to be beneficial to their health and well‐being. Individual and group interviews were conducted with 30 women and these provided useful insights into the participants' subjective experiences with regard to line dancing and the impact it had on their health and well‐being. The two broad assumptions that guided this study were a) that line dancing was perceived to be beneficial to the health and well‐being of these older women and b) that these older women did not subscribe to the popular assumption that there is a general deterioration in mental capacity, psychological or physical endurance or creativity once one reaches the age of 60.

Citation

Nadasen, K. (2007), "‘We are too busy being active and enjoying ourselves to feel the aches and pains’: perceived health benefits of line dancing for older women", Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 4-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/14717794200700016