A 100-year-old woman known for dancing the Tush Push reveals the secret to her longevity
Shirley Goodman is the center of attention on every dance floor she's at and for good reason! A few years ago her grandson posted a video of her doing her famous Tush Push dance at her great-nephew’s wedding. The video garnered millions of views and since then the Internet knows her as the "Dancing Nana". Speaking of the attention and sudden rise to fame she said, "It's overwhelming, it's wonderful," Goodman told Good Morning America while dancing at the time. "I love every minute of it." She added with a joke, "I went viral and I feel fine."
Even after becoming a viral hit, she still hasn't stopped dancing. She continues to spread her love of the art form by teaching older people at senior centers, synagogues, and churches in the Sarasota area, and livening up the dance floor at every family gathering. Goodman also has her own Instagram page, where she posts videos of her fun moves regularly. She started dancing at the age of 8 and hasn't stopped even at 100! She turned 100 on March 14 and the festivities lasted for 5 days! It included a lot of dancing too of course!
“I feel great — 100 is just a number to me,” Goodman, who lives independently in Sarasota, Florida, told TODAY. “I would advise people, if they like music at all, to keep it in their lives and don’t just sit home in a rocking chair.”
How does she keep fit and healthy at her age? Apart from having a loving-life attitude, she does yoga via FaceTime every morning with her daughter, Joan, who lives in Albany, New York. That doesn't mean she's super strict with her way of living. She also indulges her sweet tooth every day and can't resist chocolate. “I don’t eat healthy food,” she joked. “My kids would holler at me… but when I hit 90, they stopped bothering me.”
After two open-heart surgeries, including a bypass surgery to fix clogged arteries, she has a pacemaker and a stent. The 100-year-old refuses to let anything stop her from breaking a move. Even with vision and hearing problems, she said, “My legs are still working. I’m an optimist. I try to do positive thinking all the time. That’s very important. I have a bracelet that says ‘Positivity’ on it. I wear it every day and I try to stay positive.”
“I attribute (my longevity) mostly to two things. One is my family — I have a wonderful, devoted family. And the jazz, the music down here in Sarasota, and my tap dancing, that’s what keeps me going,” she concluded.