by Courtney Diener-Stokes
Article written by KWS parent Courtney Diener-Stokes about other KWS parents Jesse Sychterz and Dan Tiffany. Originally published by the Reading Eagle.
Jesse Sychterz Tiffany of Kimberton, Chester County, was just 5 years old when she first began doing World War II reenactments with her grandmother. At the events, she received an introduction to swing dances, which were usually a part of the events.
“When I turned 18 I decided to take a lesson and became hooked,” she said. “Incidentally, my very first swing dance lesson was where I met my husband, Dan.
These days, you’re likely to find them on the dance floor at SunnyBrook Ballroom in Lower Pottsgrove Township, Montgomery County, on the first Sunday of each month in addition to other locations
“It’s the closest place that has swing dances,” Tiffany said. ”There’s a swing lesson from 3 to 4 p.m. followed by a live band from 4 to 7. Philadelphia also has an active swing dance scene, as well as Lancaster.”
One of her instructors over the years introduced her to dancing at retirement homes in Chester, Montgomery and Berks counties.
“My dance instructor at the time needed help at some demos and asked if I was interested because I looked the part,” Tiffany said. “I happily obliged and soon, quite a few activity directors from local nursing homes were asking us to come dance.”
When she goes to the homes, she is typically in period dress and takes a dance partner.
“One of the things I love most about dancing at these centers is I’ll catch residents, even with advanced Alzheimer’s, tapping their feet to the beat,” she said. “If I go up to them and take their hands you can feel their rhythm — you can just tell that 60-plus years prior they were cutting a rug.”
Some residents will stand up, and she’ll dance with them for as long as they’d like, while others might sit in their wheelchair and she’ll dance with them holding hands.
They perform various routines for residents that take them back in time.
“One of the routines is called the Tranky Doo, performed to the song ‘Dipsy Doodle’ by Ella Fitzgerald,” Tiffany said. “It’s a solo routine originally performed back in the early 1940s.”
Tiffany loves seeing residents reminisce when she dances for them.
“If it were not for their generation keeping this dance I love so dearly going, I wouldn’t have grown to know it, meet my husband through it, or have met all these wonderful people,” she said. “I think of it as a way to give back.”
Last year, Tiffany was invited to perform at a 100th birthday party with a few other dance friends.
“Boy did her face light up when she saw us dancing to some of her favorite tunes the way she used to 70 years prior,” she said.
