WAUKESHA, Wis. — Waukesha Mayor Shaun Reilly proclaimed July 3 as Milwaukee Dancing Grannies and 610 Stompers Day, in the City of Waukesha.
“Since 1984, when The Dancing Grannies were established, they have been a beloved staple in all our communities with and undeniable ability to create and share joy while showing the more senior side of life can and should be a time of having fun and creating delight,” said Reilly.
On Nov. 21, 2021, The Dancing Grannies lost four of its members in the Waukesha Christmas parade when an SUV drove full speed through the holiday celebration.
Jan Kwiatkowski is the president of The Dancing Grannies. She said the group received immense support from around the world. One of those support systems was a men’s dance group from New Orleans called 610 Stompers.
The Dancing Grannies recently performed with 610 Stomp at Mardi Gras.
“Everybody kind of thinks that resilience is just bouncing back, and life gets back to normal, but we have learned that resilience is really hard work, and you need people around you to do it and if it means vulnerable, sometimes it means crying or talking about stuff and being with people you can trust,“ said Kwiatkowski.
Now, the City of Waukesha is honoring the camaraderie. Both groups are performing at the Waukesha Independence Day Parade.
Kris Sekinger is a member of 610 Stomp. He said, while his dance group may have supported the Grannies, the Grannies inspired them.
“So, the Grannies are an inspiration to us — personally to me — but I know to a lot of the Stompers,” Sekinger said. “Their resiliency, their ability to fight back over tragedy and overcome — we’ve learned so much from that group; there’s so many lessons to be learned from them.”
Kwiatkowski said it’s important to spread the themes of healing and resilience to the world.
“We knew we would get it back. It was just a matter of time and working through it, but we were determined it was coming back no matter what,” Kwiatkowski said.
The Grannies are back to dancing, in honor of the ones they lost. Now they have a designated day and new friends to share the energy and healing of dance with.