Hal and Sharon Hufford have been married for 53 years, and have been country-Western dance partners for even longer.
Hal, 76, chuckles when asked if dancing with his wife takes him back to the old days.
“Not memories,” Hal said. “We’re living the life now.”
If there’s a theme for the 95 members of the Kactus Kickers Country Western Dance club of Sun City Oro Valley, it’s that fun and fulfillment are out there for anyone willing to shrug off the difficulties of life.
The group, one of the most popular in the retirement community, stages regular lessons and monthly dances. Membership is open, but due to community regulations, 80 percent of members must live in Sun City.
The president is 57-year-old Del Salvaterra, who also runs a hula group at Sun City. She was born in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. at age 17, living mainly in Michigan before retiring with her husband, Bob, and moving to Sun City Oro Valley in 2012.
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Salvaterra leads the group, which eschews line dancing in favor of couples dances, in two-step, Western waltz, swing and cha-cha. Members’ ages range from the early 50s to mid-80s.
“We dress up like cowboys and cowgirls with Western boots and hats,” Salvaterra said. “I think that’s really appealing to folks in here. Also, it’s a chance to grab your spouse or partner for a night out dancing.”
Salvaterra said members are fun, inclusive and outgoing. The group, which was at 40 members a few years ago, continues to expand because members keep bringing friends to dances, and those friends tend to stick around.
Joan and Frank Morris have been in the group for 15 years.
Morris declined to give her age but said she is in her 80s. She was more forthcoming with the age of her husband, Frank, who is 80.
“He’s a child,” she quipped.
Joan Morris particularly likes the classes, which remind her of her youth.
“I used to take dance lessons, and sometimes I enjoyed my dance classes more than going out on Saturday night,” she said. “The camaraderie is good for us seniors — our minds, not only our bodies. You need to learn steps or patterns if you really want to country-Western dance.”
Joan Morris said the music is fun to dance to, although sometimes there are tracks that are downers.
“If you listen carefully to a country-Western song in reverse,” she said, “you hear about a guy getting back his dog, his truck and his wife.”
She said it’s important to connect to country culture because of its deep ties to the area.
“We live in Arizona, so we should know how to country dance,” she said. “It just shows a little appreciation.”
Hufford said that although he’s danced for decades, “if I keep it up, I’m gonna get the hang of it.”
He said his mother instilled in him that it was important to learn to dance.
“My mother raised me with the understanding that the guys who could dance got dates with all the pretty girls,” he said. “I learned to dance pretty early.”
In Sharon, he proved his mother right. And now he has a date with her every month.
