Boogie Brigade

A group of older adults in Carolina Beach are defying the stereotypes about aging. 

One, two, maybe three nights a week they are on the dance floor, kicking up their heels. They may not be perfect as they do the Boot Scootin’ Boogie and other classic and new line dances, but they are having tons of fun.  

These women (and a few men) are students of Kelli Derengowski, who heads up Beaches and Boots Line Dancing. Some of the dancers, most of whom are aged 50-80, dance simply for their own enjoyment. Others join Beaches and Boots performance arm and also dance at charities and raise money for local causes.  

“You can stay at home and grow old, or you can do something to keep you young,” said Johanna Kjesbu. “Through Beaches and Boots Line Dancing, you have goals. Everything stays vital. You are part of society, and you know you are making a difference to someone else.” 

Line dancing, which has had a recent resurgence in popularity, provides many of the elements older adults need to be healthy and happy in their golden years. It improves everything from balance to stride to heart rate, Derengowski said. Line dancing is also good for memory, as new nerve pathways are created when the dancers learn new dances and dance sequences, she added.  

But Beaches and Boots also improves the dancers’ lives in another vital way. They gain friends who are there for them on and off the dance floor. 

“We are just a group of girls doing something we love to do, and we support each other and become very close,” Trudy Robare said. “When new people come, we embrace them. … We become a family.” 

Derengowski currently teaches Beaches and Boots line dancing classes at the Carolina Beach Recreation Center, Carolina Beach American Legion and El Cazador Mexican Restaurant. The classes are geared to three different skill levels: absolute beginners, beginners and experienced dancers.  

Her classes are unique in that she uses all types of musical genres for line dancing. Also, thanks to her background in ballroom dancing, Derengowski’s choreography is full of surprises. In addition to traditional and even new line dancing steps and sequences, she incorporates steps and movements from the waltz, cha cha and mambo into her dances.   

While Derengowski’s classes can be intense – students get a great cardio workout while progressing from the basic line dancing steps and sequences to more intricate patterns and dances – she modifies the steps and breaks them down so her students can master them.  

Derengowski also makes her classes engaging and fun. Putting movement to music and getting one’s boots (or tennis shoes) in the right sequences on the floor leaves no room for drama, social media, caregiving or other family concerns, or other stressors.  

“It’s a time for the dancers to have fun and forget their worries, just for a little bit,” Derengowski said.  

Fun is so important to Derengowski that she makes it a priority. She is the first to admit that she messes up, so her students feel okay about messing up, too. They laugh through their mistakes and keep on trying. And they keep improving. Beginners move up to the next level and then the next, and soon people who never dreamed they’d advance so far are doing the hitch kick, Derengowski said.  

Jamie Bowman said that it was just that encouragement and good-natured fun that gave her the incentive to continue line dancing despite her first fumbling efforts.  

“They (her classmates) kept telling me to get back out there,” she said. “They support you and pull you in and help you.” 

Some dancers also join the Beaches and Boots Performance Team, which raises funds and dances at local charities. One of the team’s most popular fundraisers is the annual Witches Pub Crawl.  

The dancers, dressed as witches and armed with festive wands, perform in front of one pub after another to raise money for little-known but worthy causes. One year the team raised more than $12,000 for a child who had leukemia, and in another they raised enough money for a roof for a local resident’s home, Derengowski said. 

An unexpected but cherished part of Beaches and Boots is the bonds the dancers form. The women leap into action when illness or a surgery strikes a dancer or her family, bringing meals and visiting to help alleviate the strain.  

They are there when tragedy strikes, too. For instance, they helped Boman, when a new widow, get through her grief. Boman says the women were instrumental in getting her to socialize instead of staying home alone with her sadness.  

And when times are good, the women take on the town, going out to line dance on their own, meeting for dinner, and attending cool events together. 

“I have never had as many friends as I have gained through line dancing,” Kjesbu said. “I couldn’t be more grateful. I’ve never seen anything like this.”