by Brooklyn, NY — Just weeks away from her 97th birthday, New York City’s oldest known dance teacher is proving that age is no barrier to rhythm, resilience, or pure joy. At Fort Hamilton Senior Center in Brooklyn, lifelong dancer Betty Markowitz returned to the stage for her first full tap performance since the COVID-19 pandemic — and her students say she’s more energetic than ever.
A Teacher Who Inspires Generations
Markowitz has been teaching tap dance to seniors for more than 20 years, and her classes have become a lifeline for older adults across the borough. Her troupe, The Rhythm and Style Tappers, features dancers aged 60 and up, many of whom say they struggle to keep up with their remarkably spry instructor.
“I’m trying to find out where she gets the gumption at her age to do everything she does,” one student said as they prepared for a 12-number tap performance.
Markowitz, meanwhile, says the work isn’t just rewarding — it keeps her alive.
“Seniors don’t have to stop and lie on the couch,” she told The Post. “Get up, get dressed, and get out!”
A Lifelong Love of Dance
Born in England in 1929, Markowitz began dancing at just 4 years old. She moved to New York in 1947 as a “G.I. fiancée” after falling in love with an American soldier during World War II. Settling in Brooklyn, she spent decades ballroom dancing as a hobby while holding various jobs — “12,000 different things for work,” she joked.
After retiring, she decided to teach beginner tap classes at the senior center. What she expected to be a small group quickly grew into a bustling troupe of 30 dancers, who traveled the city performing at nursing homes, police and military inaugurations, and fundraising events.
“We were a unit. We were a family,” Markowitz said of those years.
The Pandemic Shuts Down the Stage
Like many senior programs, the Fort Hamilton Senior Center closed abruptly in March 2020. For Markowitz, who lives alone, the shutdown was devastating.
“I was miserable, sad, lonely… it took the joy out of my life,” she said.
One day, after feeling physically and emotionally drained, she decided she needed fresh air. In a stroke of luck, she ran into a friend who had just received permission to reopen a nearby dance studio. That encounter changed everything.
She returned to teaching — although with masks, temperature checks, and dancers spaced apart — and slowly rebuilt her troupe. When the senior center eventually reopened, Markowitz began recruiting again, determined to restore the community she’d worked so hard to build.
The Return to Performing
This week’s performance at Fort Hamilton Senior Center marked her first full show since the shutdown. The event drew a large audience of friends, families, and local community members who cheered on the seniors’ revival.
The Rhythm and Style Tappers performed 12 tap routines, celebrating both movement and resilience. Many students say they credit Markowitz not just with teaching them dance, but with giving them purpose.
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“It’s beautiful, it’s wonderful,” she said of returning to the stage. “It shows what seniors can do.”
A Legacy Still Growing
Now approaching 97 years old, Markowitz has no plans to retire. She believes that teaching is part of what keeps her mind sharp and her body moving.
“It’s very joyful — that’s why I do it,” she said. “I get back what I give — and I love it. It gives me life.”
Her goal is simple: keep seniors dancing, connected, and confident. And with every shuffle, stomp, and slide, she proves that joy doesn’t fade with age — it taps louder.
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