You can’t keep a good pair of dancing feet still—no matter what the age.

It seems safe to say that the history of dancing may date back to about the beginning of mankind. And throughout the ages, no other people have perhaps been so deeply documented for their love of moving their feet to the sound of music than those of the generations of the 1930s through the 1950s.

Now in their 60s or older, many people of these generations cherish their memories of attending dances with bands playing music from this golden age of dancing.

Those who consider such activity outdated have certainly not dropped by the Mission Oaks Community Center in Carmichael on a Tuesday or Friday afternoon.

Those who have seen these particular happenings inside this community center know that many seniors not only continue to savor their dancing memories of this era, but that they also refuse to put away their old dancing shoes.

On any given Tuesday or Friday afternoon, the parking lot of the center has very few empty spaces, since inside the center at least 100 seniors are dancing to the sounds of classic music performed by local bands.

On Tuesdays, the four to five-piece Eddie Lovato group arrives at the center to play music for such ballroom dancing as Latin, fox trot, waltz, samba, rumba, cha-cha, tango and swing.

The Friday group, the 6-piece Sacramento Gold, also plays a variety of crowd-pleasing music and is known for its full orchestral sound, old tunes and solid rhythms.

Lovato, who has been a dance instructor since 1955 and has played live music since 1960, said that the music that his band plays brings back memories of bygone eras and causes those from these generations to get up and move their feet.

“They love the type of music that we do,” Lovato said. “After each dance, people come up and say how much they liked our music. They are very beautiful people.”

Lovato added that it is no mystery why people from this era were so connected to dancing.

“I came out of the Depression era and then we also had World War II, which were both really rough times in this country and then during the 1950s, we were still recovering from these times, so dancing was very important,” Lovato said. “The thing is, when people get depressed they want to have fun instead of staying home and worrying. Dancing provided an opportunity for people to have fun and not worry about what was going on.”

Jack and Norma Kersten said that attending Mission Oaks dances brings back memories of a time when the music of Glenn Miller, Harry James, Les Brown, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Duke Ellington, Guy Lombardo, Nat King Cole and other stars of the day ruled the dance floors and radio airwaves.

Jack, who recalls dancing to a performance by Harry James at the Aerojet Recreation Center in Rancho Cordova in the 1960s, said that he has been dancing since right after World War II and was once an Arthur Murray dancer.

Norma, who attended McClatchy High School, said that during her teens she enjoyed dancing at the Mather and Travis airbases, the upper floor of the bowling alley building at Watt and El Camino avenues and skating at the roller rink at 9th and R streets.

In addition to providing a nostalgic way to socialize, the Mission Oaks dances, said Lovato, present attendees with opportunities to improve their health.

“Dancing is great for your health,” Lovato said. “It improves your balance, lowers your cholesterol and causes you to use both sides of the brain.”

The health benefits to dancing are simply icing on the cake for attendees of these biweekly dances, which draw seniors from throughout the Sacramento region and as far away as El Dorado Hills.

Among the premier dancers at the center is Jim LeDoux, who is a sort of celebrity for his notoriety as the winner of 11 medals (9 gold and two silvers) at the Senior Olympics at The Ballroom on Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento in 2000.

LeDoux, a 1957 graduate of Grant High School, said that his dancing experiences date back to his time in the Air Force, when he danced at the Officers’ and Noncommissioned Officers’ clubs.

LeDoux said that learning to dance was no easy process, since he recalls having one of his dancing companions walk off the floor after telling him, “You just walk around, you don’t dance.”

Payback was beautiful, said LeDoux, as he learned to dance from his sisters and their friends.

“I ended up dancing with the same girl after I learned how to dance and I told her, ‘You just walk around, you don’t dance,’ and then I walked off the floor,” said LeDoux, who said that despite these incidents, he has maintained a longtime friendship with his once, very short-term dance partner.

Certainly many now-classic stories of dancing can be heard in a room full of so many longtime dancers, but on a local level, few names raise more brows than that of Bill Rase.

“Anyone who went to high school in Sacramento, who is over 55, knows Bill Rase,” LeDoux said. “His band played at many dances at high schools, including Sacramento, McClatchy and Grant and they played at Sacramento Junior College too.”

Another Grant High alum, Cliff Curtice of the class of 1949, said that he appreciates the opportunity that the Mission Oaks Community Center gives seniors who desire to continue ballroom dancing.

“There are not many places you can go ballroom dancing anymore,” said Curtice, who said that he was once a regular at dances that were held at the Masonic Temple in Sacramento during the 1970s and 1980s. “This is a great place to dance with very good music.”

Rocklin resident Betty Sharrett, who actually danced with Harry James at his 1960s Aerojet performance, noted the quality of dancers at the center, saying, “There are a lot of good dancers here, not everybody, but a lot.”

Al Jennings, 79, who lives in the Land Park neighborhood of Sacramento, said that he is not only a fan of the dancing at Mission Oaks, but that he is also a fan of Betty.

“My wife died in 1997 and I wanted to meet women, so I came here and I happened to run into Betty,” said Jennings, a former owner of the now defunct, longtime Old Sacramento cafe, The Whistle Stop. “Betty needed a fourth person to play bridge and she asked me if I’d be willing to drive all the way to Rocklin to play.”

It was an offer that Jennings said he couldn’t refuse.

Attending Mission Oaks dances, coupled with playing several games of bridge, proved to be a very effective way to meet a woman, said Jennings, who has been dating Betty for about a year.

“She’s a real pick up artist,” said Jennings with a chuckle.

Another dancing couple at the center is 91-year-old Martin Koplin and his wife, 88-year-old Ila Koplin.

“We love it here,” Martin said. “We discovered it after the Masonic Temple closed up [its dances]. We weren’t into the pubs, so this was perfect for us.”

South Natomas resident John Baugher, 75, who meets his girlfriend Dorothy Oswald of Elk Grove at the center once a week, said that he highly recommends the center’s dances.

“Where else do you find a whole dance floor of people doing the waltz?” Baugher asked. “Just look at all that talent on that dance floor. It’s amazing!”

For more information about the bi-weekly dances at the Mission Oaks Community Center, call (916) 972-0336.