Never Too late To Dance!

Dance isn't just movement to music; it's Liz Pimentel-Gopal's celebration of cultural identity and self-reinvention. From Mexico's vibrant streets to the NBA's spotlight, Liz's story is a vivid encore of life at 55+. This episode traces her resilient beat from a newfound American identity to breaking stereotypes with the Golden State Warriors Hardwood Classics Dance Team. Liz shatters age norms, embracing the wisdom of years and the power of performance, inspiring a dance of unity across ages and backgrounds. Join us as we explore the community's transformative role and the collective rhythm that drives us to new heights. Tune in for an uplifting journey of dance, unity, and relentless pursuit of dreams.

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Golden State Warriors Hardwood Classics Dance Team

Podcast Transcript

Pat

Hi, I am Pat Benincasa and welcome to Fill To Capacity. Today's episode, “Never Too Late To Dance.” My guest is Liz Pimentel-Gopal. Her story is about the complexity of identity and a journey of self-discovery. Liz spent her formative years in Mexico believing she was Mexican only to discover at age 18, she was an American citizen. Applying for colleges an immigration snafu forced her to relocate to the U.S.

 She spoke Spanish and had to navigate a new life and learn English. Grappling with language barriers and cultural assimilation, Liz didn't get a sense of belonging until her forties.  Following a stellar academic career, she retired early to explore the creative passions that she never had time for while working. Fast forward, she is now a dancer for the NBA National Basketball Association, golden State Warriors Hardwood Classics dance team.

In fact, listeners, that's why I invited her to come on FTC to tell us why at age 55, she decided to try out for this team, meaning intense competitions and physical strain. But when Liz told me her backstory, well, let's just say fasten your emotional seat belts and have a listen.

Welcome, Liz. So nice to have you here.

Liz

Oh, Pat, what a lovely welcome. It's a pleasure. You have no idea how happy I am to be here.

Pat

Well, you and me both. I've been so looking forward to your story and letting others hear it. So let's jump in. Tell us a bit about your early life in Mexico and how that experience shaped your identity and perspective on life and community.

Liz

Ah, that's such a great, great question. In Mexico, I grew up around very large family. My siblings, my mom had 10. There were nine, nine all. So I was always surrounded by people in my grandparents' house. And there was always the sense of care and love around me all the time. But we were poor. We came from a poor background and my mother had the wisdom to allow me to play all the time. As long as I brought good grades to the house, she would send me off to play.

And I've always loved to move my body, always. So that early on I learned that no matter what level of stress, no matter how sad I was, no matter how much it hurt to fall off my skateboard and be all scraped up, I can get up and move and continue. I kept moving all my life and music was always around me. My family gathers all the time. There was always dancing all the time and all generations dancing.

So early on I learned the joy there is to just dance with others and laugh and sing together. So those were my formative years, actually, those teachings have kept me very strong and resilient towards what brought me when I came to the US and had to face all these other challenges.

Pat

That leads to my next question beautifully. What was it like living in the U.S. starting from your college years? What were some of your biggest challenges?

Liz

Oh, wow. So I'm being very honest, and I really, I'm saying this from the heart. I hope not to offend anyone who is listening. I think my biggest challenge was my father. He is an immigrant himself. And he left Mexico when he was very, very young. I think he left at age 12 because his father was going blind and then searched for money to send back.

And then when he was faced in his fifties to all of a sudden have a daughter, 'cause we grew up separately. I grew up in Mexico. My dad grew up in the U.S. and he would see us once a year, and during Christmas time when he had a two weeks or three weeks off work. He always worked two to three jobs. My dad was a hard worker, super hard worker. He had, you know, racism, all kinds of challenges growing up here in the U.S. as a Mexican immigrant.

Liz

So faced with me in his life, I think machismo came very, very strong. He became very, very conservative. I grew up around my mom. My mom was the opposite, she grew up with this machismo around her, being the oldest in the family. She was told early in life that she was not gonna go to school. She was gonna cook for her siblings and she was to get married. And that was it.

You know, I am the first born actually out of all my cousins and the first grandchild my grandmother had in my mom's side. And early on they were putting those things in me. And my mom was quick to say no. So I had this very strong woman by my side to encourage me to, you're gonna go to school, go get good grades. No, you're gonna go to college. She had none.

Liz

And then that person in my life, I come to the U.S. and I encounter this person who was told from early on. He's my father, love him, care for him, respect. You know, this being tells me, no, you're not going to college. You're not going out. You can't date. You are to be married. And he will lock the door and go to work. And my dad worked from 7:00 AM till he would come home until almost midnight because he had two consecutive jobs.

And I've gone through a lot of meditation, spiritual guidance, counseling. And I forgave him for all the pain that I experience and forgive myself for at times hating my father. I realized that he was just ignorant. He didn't know, that was his only way he knew how to protect me. So he was my biggest challenge because I was alone.

Liz

I was very cold. I move in into an area of north of California, true northern California, up in Humboldt County where it's cold and wet and I feel very cold. I did not know English. I quickly, when I was able to push myself to go to a community college to learn English with his permission, of course. Eventually I faced racism right away where people were tell me, oh, why college? You know, go work at a restaurant or work at a hotel, which I did. It took me 10 years to get my undergraduate degree because I've always worked and went to school. So it's not having my father's permission to go to college, I had to find my own money in my own ways to navigate and learn English and get enough grammar to continue going to school. And in the middle of that time I got pregnant and like a good girl, good Catholic girl, I got pregnant.

Liz

And my daughter Jessica, was a huge blessing in my life. What should have been a barrier, I guess, to many, she was my compass. I found purpose, I found joy, I found love. I found this incredible amount of love I had inside me that I could give to her from being a lost teenager who was afraid and meant here in the U.S. And back then, you didn't have email or Facebook or Instagram. You would pick up the phone and dial. And because it was really expensive, you would keep it to one or two minutes. I always call my mom with a smile and said, I'm fine. I'm okay. And I would hang up and cry for hours feeling this, this joy in my heart that I was gonna be a mother, shift me out of that story into I'm gonna be a mom. And she really provided like an incredible sense of purpose in my life. Yeah. I wanna narrow those two down right there.

Pat

What's interesting to me is that the second you find out you're a mother, and then you have this daughter, the seeds that your mother planted in you, you know, go to school, you can be somebody, you are someone don't ever give up. So that's really amazing, the obstacles that you had to really get through. But you did, you just kept moving.

And listeners, Liz and I had talked a couple days ago, and Liz had mentioned that she really didn't feel like she belonged here, not assimilating until her forties. So Liz, can you remember the pivotal moment or the experience that made you feel like you really belonged here?

Liz

Yeah. And by here, I want my listeners and friends and family who will be listening to this podcast, belonging to the U.S. culture. And I live in the San Francisco Bay area, which is a very multicultural area that I live in, that’s where I'm thinking about belonging. I would get up and finally say, I belong here. I don't wanna go back to Mexico because I kept saying, I'm gonna retire and I'm gonna move to Mexico. That's where I belong. I belong with my familia in Mexico. It was finding an incredible partner in life, Anand, who is from India, who is also on a really incredible journey of his own, who is always encouraging me to be my best. He will support me whatever ideas I have, he's willing to, to just land a hand or get out of the way, 'cause often that's what he needs to do.

Liz

And he really opened his heart in a way that allowed me to love him. And that I had no idea it was possible to love a partner in life. And we are a compliment to each other. That's really, really incredible. So having that part of my life come to harmony, which I had not experienced in the past, and being in a multicultural society and being able to, at that point when I moved to the Bay Area to study my master's degree and international multicultural education, I think part of my heart opened up to accept the people around me. I was the one with the curtain. I was the one “othering” everyone else. Ah, and that master's degree, it was exactly about that. How teachers in all levels of education, because we had blind spots. We “other” kids based on their religion, on the way they look, on their accent, you know, on their lack of English language. And that's what the master's degree was about, about pedagogy to reach out and create ways to allow these people to learn and techniques to allow the teachers to break down those barriers.

Pat

Wait. Before you go any further, what was the name of this master's degree?

Liz

International and Multicultural Education. At USF, University of San Francisco. And it was like therapy to me. I had no idea. I love the title. I've always been very attracted to anything multicultural, and I love the courses that were there. But little did, I know, that that master's degree was really teaching me how I was the teacher in my life, “othering” other people. So that was like a blessing.

Pat

And isn't it amazing that sometimes people think they go to college to get an education, but what happened to you? You went to college and it was a transformative experience. Because you saw yourself in what you were learning about.

Liz

Yes. Exactly. Exactly. So I couldn't judge. I was judging myself. I was like, oh, that's me!

Pat

I wanna move a little bit later in your life. You retired early from the California State University system. And I'm curious, what were you feeling about the next chapter of your life? And I ask this because retirement can either be an abyss in free fall or a new adventure.

Liz

Correct.

Pat

What was it for you, Liz?

Liz

An abyss.

Liz

And, you know, we've had these conversations when we're getting our makeup done in what we call the behind the house, back of the house. And warming up with my, my colleagues, my Hardwood Classic Dancers, because we're all, majority of us are retired. And this is a conversation that we share often about identity in the society that teaches us that your identity is linked to your job, to your profession all the time. And then on top of that, we have this other identity that society tells us, because you're in your fifties or sixties or seventies, you are to behave in a certain way, and you're supposed to live in a certain place and even wear certain clothes. You know, there's all these boxes they were supposed to enter and not come out of. It's scary. It's scary when you, of a sudden you turn in your paperwork and then you turn around and then people are like, “Oh, you're retired.”

Liz

So, because I'm a female, I should be, I don't know, cooking all the time, knitting. There's still, being a Latina, there's certain expectations on top of that. And so it's funny that it's not funny. It's actually sad. You know, we laugh, but it's scary. And that led me to, again, I went into another sense of purpose, but this time I was active. Jessica's arrival was a blessing that fell from the sky. But this time I was like, no, I'm missing a purpose in life. And  I went into learning how to meditate and, and break down a lot of those barriers that I had. Fears my goodness. Break down the fear. Fears I have in my head, overcoming my own story that I had written about myself, which is what's not true. And the beauty of my story, given it strength, lots of exercise, a ton of dancing. 'cause I love, love dancing. So I'm constantly dancing, dancing, dancing. I feel alive when I come out of a dance class. And, and I also did about a year and a half of long-distance counseling with a wonderful woman, Jolanda, from Peru, who is, I love her because she tells you what it is. She doesn't have all those layers of, what's the word Pat tell me that in the U.S. we do a lot?

Pat

She doesn't use therapy speech.

Liz

Yes! And, you know, because here in the U.S. there's like all this suing. Oh my God, if she says the wrong thing! She telling me really straightforward what was happening. And I love that.  But I had to get there, you know, I had done all this exercises on my own to be able to really listen and accept the criticism of a professional. And it's been a long journey, which has led me to Hardwood Classics. I mean, it, that's where it allowed me to find, I knew that I loved to dance all my life. I just knew it. But I had no idea that that was gonna be my purpose for now.

Pat

Hey, I'm gonna stop you here. Yeah. 'cause we're heading towards it. What is the NBA Golden State Warriors Harwood Classic Dance Team? Who are they? What is unique about them? What do you do at the NBA games? So who are they? Liz.

Liz

Oh, I love it. Thank you for being so excited about this. I am too. Oh my God, Let's start with who, who are they? This is a team of, right now, 29 dancers. We all audition to be here  at the Chase Center with the fabulous Golden State Warriors. We all love basketball and Golden State Warriors.

And we are a team of people who have to have at least 55 years old and can perform, can dance, and can perform very important. Perform our hearts out and bring joy to the fans. We dance about a minute and a half, no more than a minute in 20 seconds. But for that, we practice at least 20 hours, each person. It's a lot, a lot of practice. We have coaches and I wanna step it up and saying, we actually are the vision of the coaches. 'cause they have this vision of bringing the best out of us.

Liz

And although they're much younger than us, they're in their thirties and their forties, I think they're in their twenties. Oh,  they're like, we know you have it. Get lower, hit it harder. Oh, but don't hurt your neck. And, you know, do a 45 angle with your head and put your arms in a t not a v. And all these things, we have to let go and trust and really trust in them. And then when we are done with this, amazing, for us, it's an incredible performance. The audience loves us. They really, really cheer in the games for us. We watch the videos and we're finally able to see the complete cake. You know, because prior to that, we're all practicing. We do get together three times to learn the dance and really clean it up. But individually, we're always practicing.

Liz

And when we're performing, we're performing so that we look like we can look at each other and we're following. But none of us are following each other. We're just absolutely a harmony. So it's a really beautiful skill. That's who we are. We are one of the few NBA in, uh, or National Basketball Association Dance Squads in the U.S. that are, 55 years old and older. I think there's a few, there are 50 and older, I'm not sure. But we've been told that we're the best. We are just colleagues that are absolutely thriving in the dance world. We're very kind to each other. There's a sense of harmony and a sense of helping each other all the time. There's never a sense of competition. We are athletic and we're very competitive by ourselves, but we are always enabling each other to be the best dancers they can be. So it's really, really a beautiful, beautiful group of people.  I love them. They're wonderful.

Pat

What walks of life do they come from to try out for the, the Harwood Classic Dancers? Tell us about your, your teammates.

Liz

Well, let me give a little bit of background. So one way the Golden State Warriors Dance Teams are set up is that every August and September, they have to audition. So even though you're in the dance team every August or September, depending, 'cause there's four different groups, they have to come back in audition with a whole new set of people. So it's an earned position. It's not a given position. And now that I'm in, I'm able to meet them and I've met, let me see. Okay. The most beautiful and flirtatious team member is Jan, who can see a camera, these huge cameras. And she can just glow and smile and talk. And she's the oldest in our team. And I look at her and I'm like, oh my God. That's a skill I have to develop. She's my, like my mentor.

Liz

Clare, who I've had the chance to practice on my own, go to a dance studio and really polish each other. And she's a former judge here in nearby Humboldt County. She just retired about a month ago. And she used to be a former cheerleader, professional cheerleader. And I think the Raiders, or Dallas Cowboys. An amazing woman. She's gorgeous. I just learned Dorothy for example, she has a direct lineage with the King of Hawaii ...

So, you know, all these individuals. I have people who are currently worker, who are executives,  a person who owns her own clothing line in the golf industry. I have grandmas who just, that's what they do. They're retired. They go back to their children and really love them. Like yoga teachers. Some of them were Broadway dancers. And you know, it's amazing. It's a mixed group.

Pat

Yeah, yeah.

Liz

Mixed group. We're all interesting backgrounds.  

Pat

Who Is the oldest in the group? What age?

Liz

You know, Jan, but I think she's in her seventies, late seventies. And she is amazing. She is the flirtatious one with the camera. Cameras come and if Jan is there, they turn around and they go to Jan. It's like, they forget about us. She's amazing.

Pat

So Liz, your place in Hardwood Classics. What is special about the fact that you are dancing with them?

Liz

Very special is that I've been told definitely the only Mexican ever who've gotten into the dance team. Some people tell me I'm the first Latina. Other ones have told me I'm the second Latina to be in this team. And I believe we're six or seven years old. And that's a big deal for me. 'cause I'm kind of feel like, Ooh, I need to bring that Latina flavor to this team. And, yeah, it's, it's very, very wonderful to know that I have kind of that small badge of honor.

Pat

That's a big badge of honor! Liz. A big badge.

Liz

It is.  It's really a blessing to be able to represent the Latinas in the house.

Pat

Good for you. Now I wanna back up a little bit. So you send off an email telling them you're interested in them. And after you sent it, what kind of physical and mental preparation did you do to get ready? Or did you just wait for the email and not do anything? What did you do?

Liz

Oh, absolutely not. No, no, no!

Liz

Like, I am on fire! It became my purpose first. The mind, the mind is, can be, you have to dominate the mind to believe in myself that I can be the best, I can audition, I can be seen. I had no idea what I was getting myself to. But I said every day, I would say I want to be a dancer with the Golden State Warriors. And I would do what it takes. So by doing the mind and the prayer, 'cause I do pray a lot.  It was the nutrition, being mindful of my nutrition because what you feed your body, that's what it gives out. So my choice is to be in a plant-based diet. I feel so light, so wonderful and, it really gives me a lot of nutrition that I need. I was working with a nutritionist, long distance from Mexico.

Liz

She was guiding me with nutrition diet and they're much cheaper, which is great. And they're very knowledgeable. So then it's the, the physical I would dance, it's in dance exercise school called HipHop Line here in Oakland, California. And they love it because we're all different ages, all different sizes, all different colors. And each teacher has her own dance style. So it's really beautiful to be able to navigate between the Samba and the Hip Hop and the Latino and the Bollywood. And so allowed me to push to dance in different ways and also look around me and know that I'm not the oldest one and I'm not the youngest one, and there's other Latinas and there's African Americans. So it's really beautiful to be in those kind of environments for me. And we all are dancing with joy and of course, and that would be three to five hours a week at least. And then I would hike a lot and then I would also do weightlifting. That would be three to five hours a week.

Pat

Let me ask this. you send off this email, you don't know if they're gonna select you and you are hell bent to get into a mental and physical bootcamp boot that you imposed on yourself. How many hours a day physically do you think you were kind of working out?

Liz

In all honesty, I think it was between three to five hours a day. But I would give myself two days off of just not be on a workout mode. You know? But I would say five days a week I would do minimum two when I had a lot of things, but up to five.

Pat

What really stands out to me, Liz, when you talk about everything that you're doing, the fact that for five days a week you were lifting weights, going to dance classes, and doing all of this, but you also have this wonderful sense of self care that you say, you know what, two days, I'm not gonna do this. There's a real strength in that,  a real nurturing that you seem to do for yourself. And I have to call that out because not many people can do that.

Liz

No. And that's been, you know, that sense of forgiving myself, finding purpose, counseling, meditating, praying. And I invite everyone listening to this to please, please surround yourselves with positive people, positive beings. Not just people, animals, plants. Because they need to add to your life and you should add back to them. And I think by taking care of myself, I can give back to this wonderful beings around me.

And I have to disclose to our listeners Pat has been in my life for like now five years consecutive. We do this circle of squares by zoom, where we check in on each other every Thursday. And I just wanna say, I learned this from you, Pat, and everyone else in our circle. And I listen and I think I, really try to strive to honor our group, for example, that I want to be the best I can be so I can come back to this group and say, Hey, how can I be here for you? That's how it's a lifelong journey that I hope many people who are listening learn early on.

Pat

Exactly. And now that you mentioned the Thursday circle of 10 women, you guys have transformed my life and I see the world so differently. We're an international group of women, and I have to say, every one of us has something that we bring to the table in terms of joy, of living, a sense of purpose, what we try to do in the world. So it's truly reciprocated Liz, let me tell you!

Liz

So yes, please find those people beings that you can have a really deep conversations. And listen to each other. The growth is amazing. And we remind each other to be our best, you know?  And we help, we come back, we go in with our hard, difficult moments. And let's name it, life is not always happy. Oh my God. It's not. And we've had covid together and It's the good and the bad and the ugly. We bring it all.

Pat

And you know, Liz, I think you bring up an important point as an artist and someone who's taught art, for many years, I would always tell students, surround yourself with positive people. Now I'm not talking about, oh, everything is sunshine and light. I'm not saying that. But there are some people who, no matter what happens, they always look for the downside or trying to prove why the world is victimizing them. And you wanna run like hell away from that. If you have a dream or a purpose, It's really important to nurture yourself with people who are willing to roll up their sleeves, work hard, and know that they want to give something of themselves. And you're one of those people. I mean, you want to give of yourself. And so who we surround ourselves with. Now, if you're stuck with family members who are always negative, I mean, we all have it. You just have to be, just

Liz

Share a meal and go away, <laugh>. That's

Pat

Right. So instead of engaging in conflict, just say, please pass the beans!

Pat

Now we gotta get back on track here. This is a problem that Liz and I have. We can digress and talk for hours. Okay. Reset button.  

Now, I think we have all had the experience of trying out for something that is a huge challenge that really takes us to the brink of what we're made of. And we have to decide how badly do we want this? Did you hit that brink and what did you do?

Liz

God, yes. Yes. Okay. So here I hope people learn from this. And they, really do it at a very young age. So don't wait until their forties and fifties

Fear, fear. It's, it's such a, it's in our minds. And if you're surrounded by people who always talking about fear and they're reminding you of the fear, you're not gonna get there, get away from that. That's number one. Fear. I have reflected since I began dancing with the Golden State Warriors, Hardwood Classics. And now that prior to that, those auditions, fear was wearing all kinds of dresses. You know, sometimes was a victim, sometimes was a nurse. I mean, you know, there were many times where I would like, “oh no, but someone needs of me, they need to take care of them, and they need me to take care of their house.”

Liz

“And oh, they fell, I'll take care of your kid. Or, you know, I'm not good enough. You know, that's not for me.” And that was the victim fear. And there's all these masks and dress up games that the fear can play.

And with all my meditation and prayer that I've been able to do, I've learned, there's always body sensations. And fear has this repetitive body sensations. And for me, as my stomach gets tight, my neck gets tight, and I'm like, oh, fear. That's who you are. And I have to dream. I have to just breathe, calm down, acknowledge it, and it dissipates. By doing that over and over and over again, I was able to really peel this onion that I am and realized that I really, what I always had in my life since a child, which is movement and dance, is what I love to do.

Liz

And I was, I just went for it. You know, once I got auditioning and they gave me this shout out on tv, I got selected. I was like, oh my God. You know, and then I was gonna get paid to dance. It's not a lot of money, but it was like, what? I'm signing a contract. I'm actually reading, you know, a manual, employee manual that reads Golden State Warriors. I found myself laying on the floor out of joy going, how is this possible, you know, dance, which I love, has brought this window of opportunity. Then now I wanna make it be even bigger. It's like, okay, what's the next step? You know? Yes. Yes. So that's where I'm at. Like, ah, there's gonna be a next step, a next episode in my life.

Pat

Well, I like the fact that at 55 you decide to retire and then you think, oh my gosh, I'm falling into this abyss of what am I gonna do next? And now you're talking about, yes, I work for the NBA, the National Basketball Association, . And there you are learning on TV that you were selected

To be a part of this. I mean, I know that is extraordinary.

Liz

Oh, I screamed so loud that my neighbors heard me. They all were watching. Many of them came running to my house and they're like, yay, they're cheering with me. Oh, it was, it's absolutely, oh, I still shiver.

Pat

Rightfully so. This  makes me wonder, now that you're part of the Hardwood Classics, how has the experience of performing and being a part of this team influenced your sense of identity and who you are?

Liz

Oh, what a beautiful question. I believe in myself in ways I didn't believe before. So my sense of identity is that I'm now a 56-year-old woman who is about, sorry, I think I'm 57 now. Yeah. Stop counting

Liz

Who wants to live a life, a healthy life, and lead by example. I want others who are younger than me to get to my age and surpass me. I want to live a, a life of, by example, of joy, of movement, of good health.

My other sense of identity is that I really thrive bringing joy to people. And by dancing, by going out there and just giving the biggest smile I can and the biggest move I can, and just hearing the audience roar, I become part of the audience. And that is wonderful that I am I able to give in that way and receive, because it's, it's really reciprocal. If the audience was quiet, oh my God, I think we would come out crying!

Liz

Out of the dance floor, and the other one would say, trust. We have coaches that they see qualities that we don't see sometimes in ourselves. And by letting go, these are coaches, and they tell us, hit it. Go lower. You got it, you squat, no, now higher, now jump. You're not jumping, you know, just your head  and whip your hair and your hand and, and you just trust and surrender. And you're like, oh my God, I can do this. That is so cool. So trust the trusting in people who are knowledgeable and can guide you. It's really, really important to just trust. And then with that trust becomes, oh, I can do that. And then you start growing from there. So yeah. Trusting in other beautiful, wise people around you.

Pat

You know, what you're touching on as I'm listening to you is that in order to trust, you have to overcome fear. And the voice of the ego saying, wait a minute,  I've never done that before. Or, why are you pushing me like that? No. If you trust and let go of your ego, you're letting go of the fear.

Liz

Absolutely. If I trust and let go of my ego, I let go of my fear. It is so true. I have to, 'cause it does play out, you know, when the coaches are telling me back, more back, more back, and they're very general. I finally sometimes ask them, Hey, am I leaning back? Because I kind of get a sense that it's me they're talking to. And then they'll say like, okay. And they'll come and, lean me. And I'm like, I'll feel it in my body. I'm like, oh, okay. I get it now. You know, I have to quiet that voice. Absolutely. The ego. It's loud and I just have to say, I'm not listening to you. I'm listening to my coach. Shut up. And I just keep moving and listen to the music.

Pat

Well, as we wind down in the conversation, Liz, you once described your life as a series of puzzle pieces. How does this dance piece fit with the other pieces of your life?

Liz

Oh, what a beautiful question. So yeah, like a puzzle. You know, you have all these pieces and you look at them, and then you don't know where that piece fits. And for me, it was this void?  I was feeling empty. I should have been super grateful and, and joyful because  I'm healthy, I am able to retire young. I am living a comfortable life. I'm not rich, but I am comfortable, you know, I have food on the table,  I'm safe. And I've accomplished many of my dreams. I've traveled around the world. I have an amazing daughter who's about to make, make me a grandmother. Oh my God, I'm so excited. and Jordan, of course, this takes two,  of my Jessica's husband. I was always feeling empty, like something was missing. And going to the auditions and getting selected, there were four tryouts, and they were hard.

Liz

I don't think I've sweated as much in my life. That's the first time I've sweated that hard. And every time they kept saying my number. 'cause at first you're given a number. And every time you come in, it's a new number. You have to memorize the number. 'cause if you memorize the number, if you forget it, then you're gonna make mistakes.

There was that piece was like, oh, I belong, I belong, I belong. And now I really feel like I belong to a group of incredible 55 plus older individuals who want to live life with joy, healthy, and just keep on dancing. I really feel like I belong.

Pat

Whoa. That's beautiful, Liz. Thank you. This is why I wanted you to come on, because your story has so many pieces, but I think at the heart of it, and maybe this is the heart of being an immigrant, redefining where you belong and how you belong.

Liz

Correct.

Pat

And your story of dancing and being part of this phenomenal team, it just celebrates the possibilities in life.

Liz

True. Absolutely.

Pat

So, I wanna thank you for coming on today!  And listeners, what a story! I'm telling you this, this is wonderful. And I thank you. Thank you,

Liz

This is like such an amazing opportunity to share a little bit of my story and to empower others to keep on dancing and to do their best and just keep on surrounding themselves with positive people and positive thoughts.

Pat

Nicely said. Well, thank you Liz, and thank you listeners. If you've enjoyed Fill To Capacity today, please tell friends and subscribe. Thank you. Bye for now!