LOS ANGELES, Calif. - It truly takes two to tango, but at 96 years old how does Phyllis Sues do it? Well it all starts with a little song every morning to get out bed and start moving.
“When I wake up in the morning I say ‘good morning, good morning, I love this day. It’s a beautiful day we’re on our way, so don’t delay because we’re gonna play, I love this morning it’s a beautiful day,'” said Sues.
It's that attitude that's kept Sues living and thriving for over nine decades while discovering new things along the way.\
Sues is a former professional dancer who started practicing yoga at the age of 85 years old. Then she took her first tango classes, which have become one of her secrets to longevity.
“I live to do the tango, and I do tango to live,” said Sues.
But it wasn’t easy at first.
Tango is all about connecting with the other person and it was hard for her to follow.
After a few years, she met her current instructor, Marcos Questas at the Tango Lessons in LA dance studio. The pair hit it off immediately.
“It was love at first sight, we got along really well right away, and she started taking lessons pretty much everyday," said Questas. "And she went at it with everything she got.”
So much so that Questas and the studio have become like family.
“This is my life, right here, my whole life right here," said Sues.
The duo will be competing this September at the International Tango Summit in Los Angeles, which is the largest Argentine Tango competition in the U.S.
For the thousands that she has inspired and continues to inspire, Sues wants them to know that living long and moving your body as she does later in life is both possible and probable.
“It’s not saying I want to, that doesn’t cut it," said Sues. "It’s got to be 'I’m going to do it.' D-O. Do.”