9/10
Don’t stop ’til you get enough
Local dancers proves that life doesn’t stop at 40
Drea Knufken for the Boulder Weekly, October 2007 

A group of 40 energetic women hit the stage, all black leotards and carefully choreographed moves. Some of them have gray hair and are shapely in the way younger women can’t be. Others have sculpted bodies that would make a 25-year-old envious. Their dancing is confident, almost to the point of being brash. And not a soul on stage is under the age of 40. 

“After you hit a certain age, you’re not trying to impress. You really don’t care what anyone thinks,” says Nancy Cranbourne, founder and director of 40 Over 40, a Boulder-based dance company that only includes women 40 years or older. In 2003, Cranbourne, a jazz dance teacher at CU and in the Boulder community, noticed that a fair number of her advanced jazz students were over 40 years old. She wanted to give them a chance to perform on stage, so she formed 40 Over 40 and choreographed their first performance in 2003. That year, the 16-dancer company’s premier performance of “Brick House” by the Commodores ended in a standing ovation. Cranbourne took this as a good sign and kept building performances with the company. 

Now in its fourth year, 40 Over 40 is still going strong. With its youngest members at 40 years old and its oldest at 77, the company puts on a tight, professional show with funky, hip, jazz dance moves. Some modern dance is also incorporated. Though most dancers are advanced students who have been dancing for years, Cranbourne also includes beginning students. You’d never know, though, by looking at the crisp choreography. 

Cranbourne says what sets her dancers apart is their confidence. They know what they want and generally set strong boundaries. “They’ve had kids, had their careers, owned small businesses... They’ve been there.” Armed with this life experience, the women come in enthusiastic and ready to dance their best. In the oft-dramatic world of dance companies, this is a blessing that lends the choreographer and her company a kind of disciplined intimacy hard to find in other places. 

Cranbourne herself provides the spark that ignites her company’s enthusiastic dance furor. At 52 years of age, Cranbourne carries herself with the vivacious confidence of someone who uses life experience as a creative catalyst, not a bludgeon; an inspiration rather than an alibi for health concerns. Add to that a radically different perception of aging, a group of enthusiastic women who agree with that perception, and you have a dance performance that gives its audiences perma-grin. 

“This culture is so into what this one idea of beauty is,” Cranbourne says. “Frankly, the hell with that.” She does what she has fun doing. And by doing that, she’s changing peoples’ perceptions about what’s sexy and sensual. “I’m doing this with women my age to cultivate their beauty. This is my idea of beauty now.” 

And the idea of many others. Even for the casual, age-neutral observer, it would take a serious vision impediment not to see the beauty of these women. They hit the stage with spirited intensity and pro-level choreography, bodies sculpted and curvaceous, their smiles the kind that don’t require Vaseline to stay open. They’ve got the vivacity of a group of pre-teens — at four times the age. 

This year’s performance, Sweet Release, will be the biggest yet. The cast is composed of more than 50 dancers from all over the state. The show features Cranbourne’s choreography, as well as guest choreographers and performers Katie Elliott and Wade Madsen. Music will run the gamut from Miles Davis jazz tunes to “Play That Funky Music.” Reprises from past shows will also be included. 

Sweet Release has a personal note for Cranbourne, whose mother died this summer. The show is based around her death, which, she assures, was “a celebration.” Cranbourne is once again performing alchemy with her life experience, making a passionate, upbeat dance show inspired by a difficult loss. “Once you’re older, when things get tough, you start thinking about how it will make a good story once it’s over. My goal isn’t to think that way, then remember it later and think, ‘Man, that was fantastic!’ I want to enjoy the present as it is. Enjoy what’s fantastic while it’s happening.”

 Considering 40 Over 40’s history of setting audiences on fire, the fantastic will happen again very soon.

 On the Bill:

40 over 40 will perform Sweet Release on Nov. 9-11 and Nov. 16-17 at the Dairy Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, 303-440-7826, www.40womenover40.com