Ballet: Strengthens bones, staves off dementia and beats aches in older women

Ballet has come as a miraculous cure for older women, as it is found to strengthens bones, staves off dementia and beats. As the lights dimmed, Jules Barker felt a great surge of nerves. On cue, she made her way to the middle of the floor, curtseyed and took up her position, ready for the music to start.The next few minutes passed in a flurry of elegant piqués and pas de bourrées. She looked into the audience and saw her family beaming, eyes filled with pride.‘I was on such a high I was almost dancing on the ceiling,’ she says. ‘I just wanted to do it again and again.’

Jules Barker, 56, is a housewife from the Cotswolds who took up ballet a few years ago when she was diagnosed with social phobia. But Jules is not some ambitious eight-year-old with a penchant for tutus, limelight and Darcey Bussell. She is a 56-year-old housewife from the Cotswolds and that performance — her first ever — was the result of six years of adult ballet classes, having never done anything like it before.What’s more, Jules is just the tip of a leotard-covered iceberg. That’s because more pensioners and over-50s are taking to the barre than ever before, most of them for the first time, in what experts are calling the ‘silver swan’ effect.

The Royal Academy of Dance has launched Dance For Lifelong Wellbeing, tailoring ballet classes to older adults who would never normally get the opportunity to dance. Two years ago, when it launched, it was inundated, and they’ve since rolled out classes around the country.Their latest figures show a 70 per cent increase in silver swans signing up, and their oldest dancer is 102.It’s a similar story at Regenerate, a troupe run by Scottish Ballet, which has classes for over-50s that are filled to bursting. They’ve had to close the waiting list. Jules says that since starting ballet she has begun to feel more secure and has started building friendships with other women in her class
Films such as Natalie Portman’s Black Swan and TV shows Strictly Come Dancing and So You Think You Can Dance are thought to have helped fuel the interest in dance.The health benefits of dance, especially ballet, are well- documented, but it’s only now that there is a plethora of classes that older ladies are waking up to the idea and slipping into Lycra and performing en pointe (on tiptoes).Dr Anne Hogan, director of education for the Royal Academy of Dance, says: ‘People aged 50 upwards are looking for a type of exercise that suits their body. High-impact exercises such as running are not going to be beneficial to most in that age group. Ballet helps refine balance, flexibility and core strength.‘These are key to maintaining anyone’s health, but are especially important at that age. Ballet is also sociable, provides the opportunity to do something to music and is technically challenging.’

Jules says before she started ballet she had retreated within herself as a result of her daughters leaving home and her husband working abroad a lot. Sonya Pettigrew, principal of Brighton Ballet School, says: ‘It’s a bit like therapy, slightly like exercise and a lot of fun.’For Jules, it’s also no understatement to say that ballet changed her life. After turning 50, she faced an empty house as her daughters, Katie, now 30, and Rosie, 26, enrolled in university and her husband, Paul, 64, was spending months working abroad as a security executive for an oil company.She retreated within herself, going out less and less, and giving up her job as a nanny and nursery nurse.‘I had huge confidence problems and was diagnosed with social phobia,’ says Jules.

Jules says that ballet has become a passion and that she enjoys the discipline of the activity, she has even turned her garage into practice area with a mirrored wall and a barre

It seems Jules is not unusual in taking up ballet later in life, Hilary Constable (left) also attends ballet classes, having started just after turning 60.

‘It crept up on me over a few years, but got to the point where I didn’t want to see friends or I’d have to meet them outside the restaurant as I couldn’t walk in on my own.’Worried about her mother, Rosie accompanied her to a ballet class to try to encourage a new interest. Something clicked, and Jules flourished.‘I knew no one was going to rush past me or knock me, as could happen in the gym. We all did the same movements together, slowly.‘I felt secure, and I needed that before I could start building
friendships.’

She attends four classes a week with ten other adult dancers. Now she’s even turned her garage into a studio with a mirrored wall and barre to practise.‘It’s become a passion,’ she says. ‘I enjoy the discipline. There’s a real camaraderie in the changing room and we go out to ballet shows and for coffee mornings together.‘I’ve come out of the other side of the tunnel. Paul and the girls have noticed a real change in me.’As well as social wellbeing, ballet has had a remarkable impact on her physically. Years of poor posture produced a bulging disc in Jules’s back and contributed to scoliosis (curvature of the spine).‘On some days, the pain was so intense that I could barely walk,’ she says. ‘If I slept badly, I’d have to get out of bed and crawl to the kitchen to take my medication.’
Hilary Constable, Jule Barker and Ilona Johnson Gibbs have all started ballet later in life and are enjoying the health benefits that it has brought them. With the aid of painkillers, Jules made it through her first few lessons and felt better almost instantly.‘Stretching and bending created core stability, which supported my lower back,’ she says.‘I learned better posture, and my back is perfect now. I don’t need any medication. My limbs feel stretched out and I sit and move correctly. And Paul’s excited to take me out and show me off. It’s given me such all-round confidence.’Another who came to ballet late in life is Ilona Johnson Gibbs, 74, an art dealer and owner of the Titian Gallery in Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire. She took it up after a nasty fall down a flight of stairs two years ago.

Ilona had danced in her youth, but had given it up at 20, when she started again she was concerned that her body may not be able to move in the right way.‘I had concussion and was bruised all over,’ she says. ‘It made me realise I needed to look at my balance.’Ilona had danced in her youth, but had given it up at 20. Buoyed by the idea of giving it a second go, she called the Royal Academy of Dance and arranged an assessment with adult ballet teacher Louise Gould.‘The fear was whether I had the energy and whether my body could still move,’ says Ilona. ‘I was also concerned I wouldn’t be welcomed because of my age, but it was quite the opposite.‘Louise said I was a natural.

I’ve always had the spirit of dance inside me and that has never left me.’Indeed, Ilona has shot through her bronze and silver IDTA exams (classical ballet exams for adults) and will soon be taking gold. She attends three classes a week and four monthly masterclasses at Birmingham Royal Ballet studios and Elmhurst School for Dance.Her balance has improved, as has the strength in her feet, and she hasn’t fallen since.‘Before I danced, I had rheumatism in my toe joints and was in quite a bit of pain — now there’s none,’ she says.Her family are just as thrilled, including her husband Peter, who took their grandchildren Harriet, 15, Rory, 13, and Felix, ten, to see a show that her ballet class put on at Christmas

Ilona attends three classes a week and has shot through her bronze and silver IDTA exams (classical ballet exams for adults) and will soon be taking gold. Incredibly, for someone in her mid-70s, Ilona is working up to dancing en pointe. ‘Ballet has made me feel so much more positive in my life,’ she says. ‘It’s also given me great tranquillity of mind. You have to concentrate so much that you forget everything else around you.’Daphne Cushnie, a neurological physiotherapist for the NHS, has long been a proponent of the positive impact dance has on the mind.‘Music and dance acts as an organiser for the brain, and ballet is incredibly effective in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders,’ she says. Evidence comes from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where dancing was found to be the most effective activity to ward off deterioration of the brain. Learning routines stimulates brain activity.

Hilary says she wanted to put herself in the position of a beginner, but was initially worried when she started the classes that she would be a slow learner. The English National Ballet have started dance sessions designed for those with dementia and Parkinson’s and many care homes organise ‘armchair ballet’ classes with guest dance teachers for those less able.Dancing also calms and slows the immune system, slowing deterioration and ageing, and research shows it can reduce the risk of over-65s falling by 17 per cent.‘Arthritis responds to gentle weight- bearing movement and ballet involves a lot of useful pliés and knee bends,’ says Daphne. ‘Standing on tiptoes is helpful, too, working the thighs, gluteal muscles and calves.’

But Daphne warns against silver swans pushing themselves too hard, turning too quickly and spraining muscles.‘Anyone with pre-existing heart conditions, asthma or arthritis should let their teacher know. As long as skills are built up slowly, things shouldn’t go wrong,’ she says.Hilary Constable, a retired university professor from Edinburgh, started learning ballet for the first time a few years ago after turning 60.‘Having worked in education for years, I wanted to put myself at the position of a beginner. I also liked the discipline of learning ballet, its elegance and the fact it is great exercise.’

Hilary says that after each hour-and-a-half session she is tired but elated and has had mixed reactions from her friends when they hear about her new hobby. After signing up to Dance Base, a dance company that works with all ages, Hilary found it was not plain sailing to begin with. ‘You have to follow a sequence and then try to mirror the movements. It was baffling. I was worried I would be such a slow learner, but no one has said anything so far,’ she says.Hilary, who separated from her husband seven years ago, finishes each hour-and-a-half session tired but elated. And she’s become used to mixed reactions from friends.‘One friend said, rather coolly: “And do you wear a tutu?”

’She’s not planning on doing any shows. ‘I’m happy just learning for the time being,’ she says. ‘Though I’m tempted to take up tango next; it’s so dramatic and sexy.’If Jules had her way, the entire country would be dancing. ‘Ballet isn’t just for three-year-olds; we need it more than they do.