Beverly Talley and JoAnn Roth dance away with top awards

Champion line dancers Beverly Talley and JoAnn Roth of rural Mexico love to dance, and have competed for years in the Missouri State Fair senior citizen's line dancing competition, usually walking away with all the top awards. This year's win, they say, was bittersweet, because rumor has it, the competition has been canceled indefinitely. For Audrain's duo, the news was devastating. While their names will go down in history as reigning champs, what they love most will no longer be.

"They are kicking us out," said Talley, who has been dancing 15 years on the state level. "We haven't received official notification yet, but we have a very close friend who told us that the line dancing is being replaced with two-stepping. I would have liked it a couple of more years, but I think we're done."

Talley started line dancing in 1992. However, she's always loved to dance. She and her late husband, Wiley Talley, used to go dancing as a couple all the time, mainly slow dancing. Talley was the one who encouraged Roth to start line dancing. The duo have been dancing together since 1998.

"It's good exercise and lots of fun," Talley said. "We have a large group of friends, lots of whom are widows, that enjoy getting together and dancing. You don't have to be perfect to get out there and dance."

Talley and Roth both belong to a local line dancing group, and four to five days out of week they are dancing somewhere in the county or the surrounding area.

"We dance anywhere anybody asks us to. We dance at nursing homes, King's Daughters, the Veterans' Home, Pin Oaks, Arbor, Teal. We also go out of town," Talley said. She also teaches a weekly line dancing class for seniors at the Garfield Community Center.

Talley and Roth say what they will miss most about competing at the state fair is the fellowship and footwork to prepare for the event. They generally start preparing for the competition during the winter months.

"Sometimes it would take us all winter to learn the counts and beats of a new routine. Some of the dances we do have as many has 64 steps," Talley explained. Roth said she practices a lot while doing her housework. She too is widowed and says that dancing helps ease her mind and pass the time she spends alone. Her late husband, Kenneth, died three months ago.

"We meet in Mexico on Mondays, in Centralia on Tuesdays and Martinsburg on Thursdays. We dance at least an hour and a half to two hours every day, which makes for a long week," Roth said. They have a friend who teaches a beginners line dancing class at the Missouri Military Academy that they also attend, and K.C. Country is their favorite weekend spot.

Roth has been line dancing for eight years on the state level, but admits she would still get the willies before each competition. But after the music started, her nerves would calm. Her first year dancing, she took second place, right behind Talley.

"My blood pressure was up and I was extremely nervous, but I enjoyed it a lot and was honored to be dancing right behind Beverly and take second place out of all the other contestants," Roth said. "Dancing really relaxes your mind, and keeps your mind sharp, remembering the steps. It's just good for your whole body."

Roth likes the outfits too. The more ruffles, fringe and tassels you have on your apparel, the better your chances of catching the judge's eye, she said. She owns 17 pairs of boots, and Talley owns 15 – in all colors.

"Dancers are judged on personality, poise, motivation, their outfit and dance steps. You get to be a little sassy if you want to," Roth said, smiling. She won first place in this year's state competition, wearing her white boots and dancing to the routine Spud Girls. Talley took second, wearing her white kicks and dancing to the song "Tush Push." But their favorite song is the band's choice "Boot, Scootin' Boogie."

"The music makes you feel good, even though sometimes you're dancing anywhere from a minute and a half to two minutes at a time. That's a long time to be dancing by yourself, Talley said. Dancers in the line dancing competition would dance three at a time, all doing different routines. "Which can get kind of confusing, if you're not focusing on what you're doing."

Talley and Roth aren't bored with life by far. Both have full agendas between maintaining their farms, housework and their other hobbies. But both say, they will really miss their time at the fair doing the line dancing competition. There are other senior competition the duo can do, but they're all for couples.

There's nothing written in the rules that says a couple can't be of the same gender. The Jitterbug, the Waltz and Two-step are the only other senior citizen categories in which they can compete.

"There's not many senior line dancers out there anymore. It's kind of faded out. Those folks who usually dance are either gone or can't dance anymore. This year there were only six other people competing. Which may be the reason they are discontinuing the competition," Talley reasoned. "I guess, if we really thought about it, we could dance together. I mean we dance together all the time, and we're always in sync when we do.

"Who knows – we'll see."

Until then, neither of the ladies plan on holding on to their dance cards, waiting for a fella to ask them to dance. Rhythm is in their blood and they were born to dance.

"See ya on the dance floor," they both said. Talley is 75 and Roth is 67 and the oldest dancer in their local group, Frances Lavinder, is 88.

"You're never too old to have fun," both grandmothers agree.

Neither are certain at this time if they plan to attend the state fair next year, now that the competition has been cancelled. Senior Day just won't be the same, they said.

Calls made Thursday to the Missouri State Fair business office in Sedalia were not returned before press time Friday to confirm that the senior line dancing competition had indeed been canceled.