It’s Never Too Late to Pirouette 

At 82, Rosalyn Bush has no intention of hanging up her ballet slippers. Actually, she would like more adults over 55 to put on a pair of their own.

The longtime dancer, teacher, and founder of the Bush Centre for Ballet in Sandy Springs teaches Royal Academy of Dance’s Silver Swans classes, designed specifically for adults age 55-plus. Her philosophy is straightforward for anyone who thinks ballet belongs primarily to young dancers in pink tights. “Ballet is not for sissies!”

She maintains that seniors can start anytime even if they have never taken a ballet class. Bush has taught adults with varying levels of experience, designing classes to individual skills rather than expecting everyone to perform at the same level. She is currently looking for new seniors to enroll in Silver Swans.

Bush is certified to teach the Silver Swans program which once attracted students from beyond Sandy Springs. One student, Bush noted, traveled from Suwanee to participate. Bush believes she is one of only two teachers in the Metro Atlanta area certified to teach the Royal Academy of Dance Silver Swans. Both the UK and Japan report huge jumps in senior enrollment.

For Bush, teaching older adults isn’t simply an extension of her own career. It’s a continuation of a lifelong relationship with dance that began when she was a child, training in ballet and pointe at Frankie Danziger’s School of Ballet in Augusta, from 1955 to 1961. Before graduating from high school, she was asked to continue dancing professionally by auditioning for the Augusta Ballet. Instead, Bush chose Emory University, where she earned degrees in education and math. Ballet never disappeared from her life. Although she wasn’t dancing actively for many years, she remained involved in the arts through theater and volunteer work. She wrote and directed a musical play at The Temple, choreographing portions of the production, which was eventually sent to the Bicentennial Hall of Fame Archives.

After a 40-year career as an information systems professional, Bush retired in 2005. It made a wired berth for the passion that had been in waiting. In 2000, she began taking adult ballet classes at an Atlanta studio and eventually progressed to pointe. She was the oldest adult student in the studio. From 2002 to 2005, she performed with CityDance Ensemble, an eclectic group encompassing modern, jazz, ballet, and pointe. She appeared in productions at Seven Stages, the Alliance Theatre, and Ferst Center for the Arts.

In 2005, she established the Bush Centre for Ballet in Sandy Springs, a studio where children and adults experience dance as a form of expression and find an avenue for involvement in the arts. The Centre held its first annual recital in 2006, with an original production of “The Enchanted Garden.” Bush herself continued performing, including a character role in the North Atlanta Dance Theatre’s production of “The Nutcracker” in 2006.

Over the years, her students have performed in local senior residential communities, at the Sandy Springs Festival and even in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York! Perhaps one of Bush’s most meaningful roles now is showing older adults the physical and artistic discipline of ballet. Silver Swans offers a different image of aging, with movement, music, balance, posture, discipline and creativity.

“The goal is not necessarily to turn a 60-, 70- or 80-year-old beginner into a professional dancer. It is to meet students where they are and allow them to discover what their bodies can still do,” she explained.

Her connection to the arts extends beyond her studio. She is a longtime supporter of the Alliance Theatre and Atlanta Ballet, a member of the Royal Academy of Dance, a Friend of Emory Dance and a licensed ASCAP member. She is also a lifetime member of Hadassah, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Fulton County League of Women Voters, and a charter member of the Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C. She has also volunteered through the Sandy Springs Education Force as part of its Reading Buddies program.