Ballroom Dance: Linking Serious Leisure to Successful Aging.
This study explored ballroom dance as serious leisure and successful aging in a sample of community-dwelling older adults.



Qualitative procedures were used to explore stories of ballroom dance and successful aging.



Participants described positive successful aging and active leisure engagement. Three themes emerged from thematic analyses: (a) Ballroom Dance as Serious Leisure: Its Dimensions; (b) Ballroom Dance: Its Link to Successful Aging; (c) The Affinity: We Love to Dance!.



The participants' ballroom dance revealed serious leisure characteristics in conjunction with their successful aging. They loved to dance, self-identified as ballroom dancers, and orchestrated their dance activities within its social world. Future research should examine the relation of successful aging to the social world of ballroom dance.
Department of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA Rstevens-ratchford@towson.edu.
Regena G
RG
Stevens-Ratchford
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003615:Dancing / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036301:Qualitative Research
ballroom dance; engagement with life; physical activity; serious leisure; successful aging