By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter
Shrewsbury – There must be some truth to song and dance as a recipe for staying young. If anyone knows how to stay young it’s the members of the Young@Heart Chorus whose average age is 84. They came to town to perform Oct. 6 at the Oak Middle School as part of the Community Read Project: “Dancing around the Hard Topics!”
The chorus performed for over an hour under the direction of Bob Cilman. Their repertoire was anything but what one would expect from a group of this age – it was rock ‘n’ roll all the way.
The first portion of their performance was dubbed “Woodstock” with songs from the 1960s.
The second half turned into a virtual dance party with songs from Pearl Jam, Prince and David Bowie. They had the audience of about 100, mostly over the age of 50, on their feet clapping and dancing along.
The Young@Heart Chorus mission is to present a positive image of aging through music. It was formed in 1982 at a Western Massachusetts elderly housing project to “joyfully” pass the time.
Through the years the group has performed locally and in New Zealand, Europe and Japan and has appeared on “The Ellen Show” and “The Daily Show.”
For more information about Young@Heart, visit https://youngatheartchorus.com.
For information about the Community Read Project, visit https://shrewsburyma.gov/344/Library.