94yearold tap dance instructor keeps students feeling young at Bellingham senior center

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=4RGLfJQDLvQ

Read the story here: https://cascadiadaily.co/49njTZG • Twice a week, the Bellingham Senior Activity Center’s auditorium turns into a real-life scene from “Cocoon” — the ’80s sci-fi ode to eternal youth — when the Senior Steppers, a group of tap-dancing kids at heart, line up in rows and practice for an hour and a half. • The class is led by 94-year-old Elmerine Strickland, who grew up a dancer, graduated from Bellingham High School and attended Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts for ballet. However, a ski accident on Mount Baker as a young adult left her with a broken leg and a shattered dream. Instead of moving to New York, Strickland partnered with a Cornish teacher to open a dance studio in Bellingham where she taught ballet. • In 1950, she married and moved to Montana, where she and her husband started a family. Strickland continued teaching dance at schools in Columbia Falls and Whitefish. Many moves later — all due to her husband’s job — they wound up back in Bellingham in 1992. Six years later, she joined the Senior Steppers, and 20 years ago, she became the instructor. • 📰: Jaya Flanary/Cascadia Daily News • 📸: Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily news • 🎥: Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News

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