Seniors seized a rare opportunity to showcase their singing and dancing skills at the Howard Senior Center’s third annual talent show on Monday afternoon.
Performers regaled a crowd of more than 100 people with diverse acts featuring music, poetry, comedy, tai chi and even a belly dancing demonstration.
“I’m not a professional, but we’re here to entertain you,” said Tessie Costa, 91, as she started the show by singing a medley of songs from the Roaring Twenties.
Max Stern, who has lived in Howard Beach since 1968, has been coming to the senior center for the past eight years and says it allows him to make friends and stay active.
“It’s like a country club,” Stern said. “It’s like a big family, we all know each other.”
Stern, 97, played the ukulele and sang two popular songs from the early 1920’s, “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More” and “Has Anybody Seen My Gal?”
Attached to the program were the lyrics to the two songs Stern was going to sing. He encouraged the audience to sing along with him.
“I need your help on this one,” Stern said to the crowd.
Although normally not the case, Stern struggled to remember some of the lyrics to the songs, but with the help of the crowd he recovered to finish his set.
“Today, I was a little nervous, generally I’m not.” Stern said about his performance.
The talent show was the first major event for the center’s new director, Mark Frey. He took over on August 1 after the previous director, Ike Albala, retired after more than 15 years on the job. Frey was also in the show itself, playing rhythm guitar during some of the performances.
“It was fantastic, everybody here is so energetic,” Frey said of his experience of watching and being in the show.
Frey says that events like this are important because it gives the seniors a sense of togetherness, and it reminds them that they have a support group if they need help with anything.
“The most important thing is people who are getting on in age don’t become isolated,” Frey said. “When people are isolated in the community, no one knows that they’re not having a good day, no one knows that they need help.”
Bored with jobs that required sitting at a desk all day, Frey, whose past experience includes serving as the director for Supportive Housing Services, a Massachusetts group that provide services for people with HIV and AIDS, said he took the job because he was looking for a more hands-on position.
“I sweep and mop too,” he said.
As part of the show’s grand finale, Jimmy DiNapoli and Frey performed DiNapoli’s original tune the “Senior Center Song.”
A handful of seniors, including Stern and Bunny Gelfand, who played the piano for most of the show, stood up, held hands and danced in a circle as they were playing the song.
Others clapped their hands and sang along to lyrics: We’re at the Senior Center, some come almost every day, we enjoy each other in a special way.
The Howard Beach Senior Center is located at 156-45 85th Street in the Rockwood Park Jewish Center. It is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
