GREENWICH VILLAGE — Evelyn Lauria danced at a hotel nightclub in the Catskills in her 20s, turning her passion into a teaching career that has lasted for many decades.
Now 77, she's spent the last 20 years producing performances by senior citizens in the Village.
"When I was in my 20s, dancing was exciting," Lauria said. "When I was in my 30s, it was more tiring. It's still exciting now, but it's a lot more work."
Lauria and about a dozen members of the over 60 set stepped, kicked and crooned their way through a holiday variety show at Greenwich House's Senior Center on the Square on Tuesday afternoon.
A crowd of about 30 people watched the show at 20 Washington Square North, known as The Caring Community.
For the holiday performance, Lauria led one dance number with women dressed as Christmas presents and another by the same group in short Mrs. Claus dresses and black tights.
Performing gets seniors out of the house, said Lauria, a Staten Island resident.
"What would all of us be doing otherwise? This gives people who can sing or dance an outlet," she said.
The center — which is funded by a combination of Medicaid, government grants and individual donations — serves hot lunch Monday through Friday from noon to 1 p.m. and has services for people dealing with drug addictions and HIV/AIDS.
Exercise classes, language lessons and games of bridge are among the offerings on the center's full events calendar.
Between classes and lunches, the Senior Center on the Square serves about 250 people a day, center director Laura Marceca said.
Ruth Halberg, 78, performed for the sixth year in a row.
"It gives you a good feeling," she said after singing "Silent Night."
In the 60s and 70s, Halberg, an Upper East Side resident, owned the East 73rd Street theater Stage 73, where Liza Minelli made her debut, she said. After the theater closed, Halberg took a job in a state government office and raised her three children. In her golden years, she has time to focus on her hobbies again.
"Now I get to have fun again," she said.
Performer Joan Harm sings and dances with Lauria's group after 25 years spent performing with the Sweet Adelines, a semi-professional international group of women singers.
Harm said the shows are fun for her, but that stage fright has never left her.
"I still get a little nervous when I perform a solo," she said after singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
Village resident Joe Henderson, who performed "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" dressed as Elvis, said it doesn't bother him to be one of the younger members of the group, at age 69.
"Age is just a number. It's how old you feel, including when you perform," he said.
Lauria said she plans on dancing for her entire life, no matter how old she gets.
"I will probably be coming with a wheelchair and making up a routine," she said.
