100-year-old 'dancing queen'
A 100-year-old dancer and choreographer who is about to star in her next production says a creative life is the key to longevity.
Eileen Kramer is set to take the stage at Sydney's Independent Theatre next month with her latest work, The Early Ones.
A latecomer to the world of dance at the age of 24, Kramer clearly recalls the moment she became hooked.
"It was the opening of the Blue Danube Waltz... They opened like this and looked up," said Ms Kramer, describing the opening scene.
"So I fell for it straight away."
She soon joined the Bodenweiser Dance Company, Australia's first modern contemporary outfit and toured around the world including South Africa and India.
After a 20-year stint in the United States, Kramer decided to return home to Australia last year at the age of 99.
"I wanted to hear a kookaburra. I wanted to smell a gumtree," she said.
Since returning, Ms Kramer has appeared in a video clip for musician Lacey Cole and has been inspired to create The Early Ones after receiving sponsorship from the Arts Health Institute and the Arthur Boyd Trust.
Fellow dancers Anya McKee and Patrick Harding-Irmer said working with Kramer had been an amazing experience.
"She's quite the inspiration and she's also very well rooted in the history of modern dance in this country," McKee said.
"She's such a beautiful creative spirit and also a really physical body still at 100 years old, so that idea that you need to stop dancing in your 30s - like I am - or your 40s, and you have to get everything done before then, is just gone."
Harding-Irmer, who is in his 60s, said there were no excuses or complaints in the studio when in Kramer's company.
"I'm used to sometimes being the oldest person in the studio but working with Eileen, she's definitely the more mature person and I can bow to her experience," he said.
Kramer has maintained creative control over her work, which includes making the costumes.
She has even invented a new form for herself after losing sight in one eye.
"I call it minimal expressionism. Mostly I stand still and perform," she said.
A Pozible fundraising campaignis also underway to help produce the show as well as to support Kramer, who currently lives in a hostel for people at risk of homelessness.
"At the moment I live in a very nice place," she said.
"I'm an independent renter but there is not much space."
And for those keen to emulate her long and healthy life, Kramer has some simple advice.
"Try to do creative work, because if you're dealing with creative work you're doing something new all the time," she said.
