New York Liberty fans will be waiting anxiously to see if the reigning WNBA champions can retain their title as the team heads to Phoenix to take on the Mercury in a do-or-die Game 3 in the first round of the playoffs.
If the Liberty pull off the road win, it will generate a lot of joy in the Big Apple for fans of basketball – and of dance.
Dressed in New York’s iconic black and sea foam green uniforms, supporters in the Brooklyn crowd will no doubt be excited to watch the Liberty charge onto the court. But some of them will be equally as excited to see what happens before the game – or at halftime – when the Timeless Torches, a squad of dancers exclusively over the age of 40, perform in front of the crowd.
With the oldest member being 88, the squad puts forward a show of vitality and warmth that inspires its fans.
Margaret Hamilton, a 56-year-old legal executive assistant, has been a captain for the Torches for 20 years – but she doesn’t come from a dancing background.
In fact, her dancing experience was limited to “going to the club, dancing at a club, and in my house – a lot of different houses – on weekends, birthdays, you had clean up day, your mom and your dad will put on music,” she explains to CNN Sports.
This year, the Torches celebrated their 20th anniversary. Some of the dancers have been there from the beginning – like Hamilton – while others have joined through tryouts over the years.
Back in 2005, when her basketball loving young children were auditioning for a kids dance squad, Hamilton was asked to stick around to audition for the adult squad. She made the cut, and as an original member, has been dancing with the Torches ever since.
“It changed my life tremendously because I would have never thought that I would be considered a professional dancer,” she explains.
The sentiment is echoed by many of the other dancers in the troupe.
With a background in cheerleading, dancing and gymnastics, fitness instructor Phyllis Spencer already knew that incorporating movement into her day to day life left her feeling strong and happy.
“It keeps me going. It’s such an inspiration to see dancers that are much older than I that they’re still doing it. With me being 60, if they can do it, I can do it.”
“Movement really is your medicine. If you want to be around much longer, if you want to stay active, you gotta move, whether it’s walking, whether it’s dancing, whether it’s sitting, standing,” Spencer told CNN Sports. “Any type of movement every day will keep you young.”
Spencer, who teaches kickboxing, gymnastics and aerobics at the YMCA, says that dancing is a “natural high.”
At 88 years old, Shirley Koehler is the oldest of the Timeless Torches.
In her younger years, she loved ballet, jazz and tap dance, but took a hiatus from dancing after getting married. Years later, she ended up auditioning for the Timeless Torches after seeing the group perform at a Liberty game.
“I said in front of everybody, ‘Oh, that looks easy. I can do that.’ And I forgot about it, but one of the women that used to sit with us called me and said, ‘Oh, by the way, next Saturday is the audition.’”
The dancers practice weekly, memorizing routines that they will perform ahead of big games, and reaudition for their spot on the squad each season.
‘Give it a try’
Koehler explains that it’s the Torches “family feeling” that keeps her coming back.
“I used to look forward to it because my daughter is married, gone (out of the house), my husband passed away – so this was my family,” she said.
“Just when you get out there, I sort of forget what I’m doing (sometimes) and all of a sudden, but then you hear the crowd cheering and yelling, and I don’t know, I just enjoy the idea of being out there and performing for them,” she added.
The combination of all of the eclectic styles and the personality of each Torch is part of what makes the group so popular.
“We have all different body types, all different diversity, backgrounds and everybody. That’s why they can respond and remember so much because there’s representation throughout the whole entire thing, with all of our friends, all of our fans, someone will connect with you,” Hamilton added.
And although she radiates positivity, Spencer admitted she knows how it feels to want to give up on a project.
“Everybody has had their good days. They have their bad days. Sometimes, they feel like they can’t do it. And I try to encourage them to do a little something.
“So, yeah, we go through good attitudes, bad attitudes, horrible attitudes, nasty attitudes. But you still try to inspire them and say, ‘Listen, take it one day at a time. Do your best. Do a little something. If you don’t do it, great today. Get up and try. Get up and try it tomorrow.’
“‘You really think you can’t do it? You’ve got to at least give it a try.’”
This, co-captain Spencer says, is why the Timeless Torches cut through to the fanbase.
“The best thing is that we really inspire everyone. You’ve got the little ones who are like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can grow up and be a Timeless Torch.’ You’ve got the ones that are in between the younger the young adults are saying, ‘What? No way are you in your 40s and your 50s and your 60s, and you’re still dancing.’
“You can do this. Yes, you can. You gotta have confidence. You gotta train a little bit.”