Ballroom Dance: Linking Serious Leisure to Successful Aging

Objective: This study explored ballroom dance as serious leisure and successful aging in a sample of community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Qualitative procedures were used to explore stories of ballroom dance and successful aging. Results: 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!. Conclusion: 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.