♪ (ragtime music) ♪
- (Simon Cowell) Welcome. - Thank you.
(Simon Cowell) Please, could I have your names?
- I'm Paddy. - And I'm Nico.
I will be 80 this July.
Oh my god! She looks a lot older than that!
She looks older than 80 though!
♪ (accordion music) ♪
This looks ridiculous.
She's about ready to rip her clothes off, I just know it.
Well some of the audience looks a little bored.
♪ (accordion music continues) ♪
Simon's very bored.
He's yawning.
(buzzing)
That reminded me of "The Gong Show"!
Yep. Simon doesn't like anybody.
♪ (salsa music) ♪
(crowd bursts into cheers)
Holy cow!
The old girl's got some little spring in her yet!
Unbelievable!
She don't have no 80 year old body. That's for sure.
Hah hah!
(raucous laughter)
Yo' mama!
(laughter)
Oh my god!
She must have a mask on.
She not 80.
(laughter) Go granny!
How much they must've practiced to do that. Wow.
(cheering from audience)
Yes!
(laughter)
She deserves an ovation.
Give us Simon Cowell. Oh, he liked it! Shock.
Bless her heart.
Wonder what she's doing later.
Wow, uh...well, I apologize for what I did.
Well, at least he had enough class to apologize.
- (Simon) You're an amazing-- - She reminds me of the gal from the Titanic.
The old lady.
'Cause you've shown that however old you are you can still be spectacular
and beautiful and do something amazing.
She can...all people can.
- Yeah. - If you want, you can.
- (wild applause) - That's true.
I have been a dancer from the age of 2 1/2
and I gave it up to get married.
I went to live in Spain with my husband and, unfortunately,
- after 18 months he died. - Oh.
And for something to do, I went to Nico's Dance Academy
to learn something totally different and--
She learned to dance after her husband died?
I spoke to the family and I said, "What do you think?"
And they said, "Well, you gave everything up to have us without a dad.
- And he would be proud." - (judge) Yes, he would!
I think that's a good story.
(judge) You are my hero.
That is something that I've never seen before--
A blow for the elders!
That one got me, guys! That one did.
Now she's a true role model.
Be able to dance and do all those actions that she did,
and under the legs and over the top and, you know...
it's like Gumby.
That's really touching.
Kinda reminds me of my mom was really spectacular on the piano.
(Finebros) So what's the first word that comes to your mind
- after you watch something like that? - Inspiring.
Role model.
Determination.
Agility and drive.
(Finebros) When she first started dancing and it was more normal and slow
did you have any idea what was about to happen?
No way.
I had no idea whatsoever.
I didn't think it was in the realm of possibilities.
I expected her to strip her clothes off.
No, no, and I thought, "Oh man, they are gonna get so shot up."
You know, people are just gonna start throwing things at 'em.
(Finebros) Why do you think her performance wowed the crowd so much?
I think they were not expecting it.
Our minds do not believe that that can happen.
They saw a lovely but slightly wrinkled face,
so there was a perception there that it was going to be some waltz.
Well, it ain't no waltz, baby!
And then you see she's got this pure heart and says,
"I think my husband would be happy." You know, it just chokes me up.
(Finebros) Do you think with proper training you could dance
- like she danced? - Not in heels.
I'm not saying I couldn't take a step, but I think I'd fall on my ass.
Oh sure.
I've always been a good dancer.
With proper training, yes.
I keep myself in shape to be in the long run.
(Finebros) She talked about how she had these dancing aspirations
but she decided to give it up to raise her family.
Do you relate at all to that idea that there's things you maybe want to do
with your life, but circumstance ends up leading you into another direction?
Definitely!
Absolutely! I loved tap dancing, and I did it for a long time.
But I got married.
As a woman, and you're raising a family, that should come first!
I was a typical little housewife and I didn't really have time
to do things I really enjoyed.
I think very, very true of women of my generation.
You got married and you had children and you stayed home.
People did not work when they had children.
By the time you were probably five or six months pregnant,
the office didn't even let you come in anymore.
I put off being a registered nurse because I got married
and I had two kids and I wanted to raise my children
to be the best people that they can be.
My husband at that time suggested, "Why don't you go back to school,
try and be an RN?"
So that's what I did and I achieved it.
(Finebros) Why does that happen so often, that you things that you really want
to do, but you're just not able to pursue them?
They get older. (chuckling)
When we're young, we are naive.
We sort of take things at face value and figure, "Oh everybody's gonna
have a white picket fence and everybody's gonna live happily ever after!"
They were wrong.
Someone else wants you to do this and then to do that.
You know, so we just get caught up doing this and that
and we don't put the focus where it needs to be.
But it is wonderful when a whole lifetime seems to be devoted to the self-sacrifice
or the caring for others and raising the children.
And then eventually they start their own lives and it's not too late!
And so many people are starting all new lives and new careers.
(Finebros) Do you find that as you've gotten older people dismiss you
- to a certain degree? - Sure.
Yes. Oh, yes, I do.
Until they need money.
They don't dismiss you at all when they need help.
You're not a person anymore. You become just some old person.
As you get older and you're going down the street
and they don't look at you, they look right through you.
If people would just look around as they get older and see the people
that can hardly walk, people who can't walk, they would count their blessings.
That's what they need to do rather than criticize older people.
(Finebros) Would you say that even at your age
- you still have dreams and goals? - Definitely.
Yeah, live! (laughs)
That's it. Being alive.
Yeah, but I'm not gonna tell you what they are.
Listen to me, Benny.
Elder people can have dreams too! Okay?
We're not just some senile old biddies sitting on the coach.
We do have dreams too, just like when we did when were a child.
So there.
(Finebros) Her dancing partner said that anyone can do anything
no matter who they are. Do you believe that?
I agree with him 100%.
I learned to ride a motorcycle when I was 60.
I do.
If you can bring hope..why not?
Plenty of other people are trying to tear hope down.
Everybody can't do everything, whether you're young or old.
The young people say, "Oh, that's wonderful,
but I'll do that when I'm their age."
Don't assume that 'cause we don't know how long we're going to be on this Earth.
(Finebros) So back to this video, it has over 20 million views.
Why do you think this video is so popular?
First of all, it's G rated.
You can share it with anybody.
It makes people feel, "Well, maybe my old age isn't going to be
spelled as an old fart."
She finally got a chance to really twirl.
And, you know, maybe it's just that 15 seconds,
but that's maybe all she needed. It's all I needed, seeing her!
(Finebros) And, finally, has watching this video inspired you in any way?
Yeah, it did.
To know it can be done.
Very inspiring.
Age is really attitude.
Honestly, no.
But I'm already doing a lot of things, I think, that keep me challenged.
You don't have to be dead at 20 or 80 or 90!
Go for 100!
I just want to keep going. I wanna see what's over the next hill.
Thank you for watching Elders React.
Let us know in the comments what video we should react to next.
Help support the show by giving it a thumbs up!
Bye!
I'm going to go to a disco tonight!
♪ (ragtime music) ♪