In Step with the Pucketts
If the family that plays together stays together, what about the family that dances together? For Yvonne and Roger Puckett, popular Nia and Zumba instructors at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, bringing these forms of dance to others has not only allowed them to share their love of movement, but keep young too. And, at 81 and 82 years old, respectively, that’s not a bad thing.
“The JCC is about diversity and inclusion and multigenerational fitness,” says Caroline Kohles, senior program director of health and wellness and herself a 2nd Degree Black Belt Nia education trainer. “What could be more perfect than to have a family teach us?”
The Pucketts, along with their daughter, Serena, now 46, had been taking Nia classes with Kohles at another area fitness center. When the JCC opened in 2001, they followed her here and became certified to teach Nia, a form of dance-cardio fitness that focuses on connecting the body and mind. After starting at the JCC as substitutes, Yvonne has been teaching since 2004, with Serena following her several years later. Roger has been teaching regularly for the past five years.
What drew them to Nia, says Yvonne, is the beauty of the movement and being able to express yourself in your body. “I say I like to ‘put the E in motion.’ Sometimes the emotion will go really deep into someone’s body. They think they can’t dance, and then they discover the joy of dancing. They come to me with tears in their eyes. No other discipline can touch that.”
Today the Pucketts do a combination of individual and team teaching at the JCC, with all three coming together for special events, like the Nia Jam on New Year’s Day.
Yvonne teaches a weekly Zumba Gold class and Roger leads a Nia class two Saturdays a month; the two often can be found helping out in each other’s classes. Serena, who lives in Rhinebeck and has been dancing since age 17, also teaches Nia on Saturday mornings during the summer months. During the school year, the mom of one works as a teacher’s aide.
“I like team teaching,” says Roger. “It’s kind of like supporting each other.” They may each be responsible for certain moves or routines or they may dance together. Roger says their styles—Yvonne is the Energizer bunny, he is the tortoise—work well together. Out of the studio, it works as well—the two just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!
It’s no surprise that dance is what brought the Pucketts together. Yvonne was performing in an off-Broadway show called, ironically, The Boy Friend, and Roger, who had come to New York from Texas as a dancer, was introduced to her backstage. “I was smitten right away,” he says.
If it hadn’t been Roger who swept Yvonne off her feet, it could very well have been Elvis Presley, with whom Yvonne danced in two films—Roustabout and Kissin' Cousins—prior to meeting Roger. When she performed in Vegas, Yvonne says, “Elvis used to come see our shows, and he invited me to a party—his date was my cousin. They picked me up in a long black limousine, and we had hot dogs and Cokes.”
In New York, Roger opened a successful poster gallery, which he operated for 52 years, all the while practicing body-building, weight-training, and boxing, as well as acting. The Pucketts raised their two children—Matthew, a father of two, is a songwriter/composer whose music they frequently use in their classes—and shared interests in opera and the arts. Today, they both teach 15 classes per week at different studios, with Roger focusing primarily on Nia Wise Moves for seniors in assisted living facilities through the Engage Jewish Service Corps and Yvonne on Zumba Gold, a modified Zumba program for older adults. Recently, Roger and Yvonne developed a program called Young at Heart for Seniors as part of the World Groove Movement. The two keep this schedule up despite the fact Yvonne had a hip replacement five years ago and Roger had a knee replacement earlier this year.
Besides instilling in her a love for dance, Serena says her parents taught their children “to follow our passion. They weren’t the kind of parents who focused on academics. They wanted my brother and me to follow our dreams.” From all indications, it seems her parents might be following their own advice.
Sherri Lerner is the former editorial director at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. She has written and edited for numerous publications and is currently on the staff of the Wechsler Center.