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A Few Clouds Church group hosts salsa dancing for seniors in Valley Stream
Blessed Sacrament church’s New and Vibrant Over 50s club hosted a salsa-dancing lesson for seniors on Oct. 17 as part of an effort to increase membership.
Lilly Gicala, president of the club, said she recently stepped into the role to prevent the club from disbanding. “I didn’t want it to go under,” she said. “I wanted [the club’s members] to have a place to go to.”
Guy Ferrara, president of the Valley Stream Historical Society and local salsa-dancing aficionado, led the group of more than 50 seniors through beginner steps.
“You could feel a buzz in the air,” he said of the two-hour group lesson, adding that the basement of the church “looked like a nightclub.”
Ferrara, who will turn 82 on Nov. 9, said he incorporates basic steps in his beginner lessons — several of which he’s hosted in Valley Stream over the last year — as well as uses chairs to help senior citizens learn to dance for added stability.
“There’s always something you can learn,” Ferrara said. “The applause [at the end] was so loud in that hall that my hair stood up.”
“We all had a blast,” Gicala said. “He was very informative, he was very kind and he really knew his dance. So we loved it.”
The New and Vibrant Over 50s club meets the first and third Tuesday of every month at 1 p.m. in the basement of Blessed Sacrament Church, at 201 N. Central Ave. Dues cost $15 per year. Gicala said people of all faiths are welcome to participate. For more information about the program’s offerings and upcoming events — including a Christmas luncheon schedule for Dec. 12 — contact Judy Miccio at (516) 561-8969.
