Still Kicking

“I always felt the arts were very close to religion…I felt I was doing more than just teaching an art…but was also helping the souls of people,” says dance instructor Ann Davlin, aged 93 when filmed in 2003. Six women, aged 90 and above, are featured in Greg Young's Still Kicking, a delightful profile of San Francisco Bay area artists, musicians, and dancers. “Do they keep going because they relate to their art…or are they just lucky people that have these wonderful constitutions and are able to keep going?” asks Frances Kandl, a composer and music director of Project Arts and Longevity. The answer seems to be a combination of the two, as some of the interviewees have been involved in the arts all their lives, while others became interested later in life. Here we meet African American, Asian American, and Euro-American women who favor a variety of media, including an ikebana artist, a sculptor/dollmaker, a painter, a dancer/piano teacher, a rugweaver, and pianist Lily Hearst, who at age 106 was still playing Chopin's “Fantasie Impromptu” from memory (Hearst died in 2005). A companion book, Aging Artfully by Amy Gorman, is also available, priced at $20. A wonderful resource for public libraries, schools, and nursing homes, this is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Reagan)