Just the tonic for aging and the blues

Extra-ordinary: Local hobbyists recently danced for a Chinese movie set here in the swinging 30s. Photo provided to Shanthai Star

Getting goofy with Lindy Hop

Dance, dance evolution

Swing dancing is hyper kinetic, goofy and heavier on giggles than sexy pouting. It can also make you smarter.

It might not be a miracle cure, but it has helped Jeffrey Wong, a sprightly 74-year-old, cheat the Chinese medical system.

Five years ago, local doctors warned him about his high blood pressure and said he would need an operation to clear one of his arteries.

He ignored their advice and started learning the Lindy Hop, Charleston and jitterbug three years ago in Shanghai, partly because he liked the music, partly because he liked the attractive dancing partners. He was recently given a clean bill of health.

"Now I'm totally fine. Perfect, 100 percent," he says, sipping a pint of beer at JZ Latino. "You can learn the basic steps in a week or two. For me, it's the best sport, the best exercise."

Numerous reports point to the efficacy of dancing over other forms of exercise in treating various forms of physical and neurological disease.

One famous study published in the New England Journal of Medicine makes a credible case for dancing as an aid to mental acuity and a deterrent to the onset of degenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's in older people.

It found that dancing frequently reduces the risk of dementia by 76 percent, compared to a significantly smaller 35-percent reduction for those who read regularly, or zero percent reduction for those who swim and cycle.

American dancer Frankie Manning is credited with helping fashion the Lindy Hop – and by extension, swing dancing per se -- when he started flinging partners like Frieda Washington around at the Savoy Ballroom in 1930s Harlem. He died in 2009 at the age of 94.

"I attribute dancing to my longevity," Manning said in 1999. "When you are dancing with someone you lose your stress from the day. You get to feel good while you are dancing. Dancing the Lindy Hop is a wonderful cure for any ailment."

Caroline Magand of France sees it as a serotonin-boosting hobby. "It's my drug. If I miss one session, I'm like —" and she lifts up a pair of trembling hands.