In the above photo, Joanne DeWilde of Davidsonville leads the South County dance group, The Showstoppers, in their daily practice session at the South County Senior Center on Stepney Lane in Edgewater.
The Showstoppers is made up of 45 volunteer dancers, singers, musicians and comedians from 60 to 92. They perform up to three times monthly at the senior center or at centers for assisted living, senior living or veterans. A former professional belly dancer, DeWilde now teaches belly dancing lessons and workshops at area organizations and at the south county and Bowie senior centers, and her classes are a course selection at AA Community College. DeWilde lives on a 7-acre Davidsonville farm and when her husband passed away, she was lonely and began volunteering her services at the Senior Center.
Philippine native Mahal May of Davidsonville, shown above, has been involved in Showstoppers since retiring in 2010 from the U.S. Department of Education, where she had been employed in the Office of English Language Acquisition.
The former Ms. Maryland Senior America of 2012 is part of the core group of Showstoppers dancers but also performs solo as a hula dancer and with a group of belly dancers.
When not dancing, she's active in water aerobics, Tai Chi, yoga and private belly dancing classes led by Joanne DeWilde.
This September, The Showstoppers also performed at the Anne Arundel County Fair.
The group, founded in 2007, received the Governor's Leadership in Aging Award for Best Performing Arts program in senior centers statewide in 2011
To read the full story about this group and also Joanne and Mahal, go to:
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