Leonie Rannie is probably not what you expect of an older adult program participant.

"I’ve been coming here (a Carmichael community center) since it opened in 1984," she remembers. "I started teaching ballroom and tap dancing."

Now 97, Leonie quipped, "I call myself ‘the ambassador — ambassador-a — of the center.’ I’m shooting to make the center grow. I promote dancing where I go."

Leonie also plays maracas during Friday afternoon swing music sessions. But dancing is her passion. As she told her physical therapist, "I no longer need you. My dancing is all the therapy I need."

Dance classes — a staple of aging services in California — enhance the lives of older adults.