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Our
Town
Yellow Rockers Keep Rockin’ On
Twenty-four years strong,
senior line dancing group to celebrate anniversary at June 2 showcase
By
Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer
COMPTON – With
Bonnie Raitt’s “Good Man, Good Woman” blaring,
the 50 or so seniors clad in yellow shirts form three lines and in
unison do the Dollarhide.
These line-dancing community elders led by instructor Bob Nelson
paying homage to the city’s first African-American mayor, Douglas
Dollarhide, are the Yellow Rockers.
“That means to hug,” says Nelson, who’s all about hugs
and shies away from handshakes.
It’s the beginning of Nelson’s Tuesday afternoon class at Dollarhide
Senior Center, and in between dances, the air is abuzz with cheerful chatter
as the dancers take a breather.
Next on the list is Cupid’s Shuffle, and the energy in the room is
electrified once again as the seniors catch the beat and do their thing.
“I got into this actually by accident,” says Nelson, who’s
been leading the Yellow Rockers for just shy of a quarter century. This
summer,
the group will celebrate its 24th anniversary with a June 2 showcase
at Dollarhide.
Back in the 1980s, Nelson, a former postal employee, was at a Los
Angeles restaurant chatting up some fellow diners. He eventually went along
with them to attend a benefit dance.
When they arrived, Nelson literally couldn’t believe his eyes.
“There were black square dancers… and I said, what? I didn’t
even know black people square danced! So I took an interest.”
Soon the Atlanta native began square-dance calling at Crenshaw United
Methodist Church on Don Felipe Drive in Los Angeles.
From this, Nelson’s love for dance – and eventually the Yellow
Rockers – was born.
Before securing their current home at Dollarhide, the group danced
at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, he said.
Longtime Compton resident Pat Riley has been dancing with Nelson
from the beginning. According to her, the Yellow Rockers were all about
clogging back then.
“We started out clogging. We did clogging for years,” says
Riley fondly. “We
started clogging here at Dollarhide, and then we moved on to line
dancing” because
it’s a lower impact dance form.
The camaraderie and the exercise are what keep her coming back every
week.
“Quite naturally, dancing is a good exercise, and I like being active,” she
says. “I like being here with everyone – the social network.”
And, of course, there’s Nelson.
“Nobody knew about Dollarhide Center. They did not know Dollarhide
Center until you said ‘Yellow Rockers,’” she claims with
pride. “Once you said ‘Yellow Rockers,’ they would say, ‘Ah,
yes, yes, yes.’ I don’t mean to say this, but actually he (Nelson)
made Dollarhide” what it is today.
Riley also enjoys performing. Although the Yellow Rockers have tapered
down in recent years, at one time the group was performing at least once
a month.
“We used to dance at the Carson mall once a month. And we danced
at the Delancey Street Foundation to provide them some entertainment,” Nelson
says.
They were especially honored to perform in July 2006 at a celebration
hosted by the city in honor of its renaming a portion of Tamarind Avenue
between the two downtown shopping centers on Compton Avenue in honor of
the city’s trailblazing first black mayor.
Naturally, they performed the Dollarhide that day.
Line dancing, explains Nelson, is a country dance derived from the
two-step.
“We used to do a move called the Freeze back in the day,” he
explains, reminiscing. “Well, they took that and called it the Electric
Slide,” one
of the more widely known line dances.
Nelson, an Atlanta native who moved to Compton in 1958, left to Bellflower
in 1989 and just this year moved back, teaches classes five times a week.
He is not paid, but volunteers his time.
“This is what I love,” he says.
He teaches a Monday morning class at Dollarhide and an evening class
at the senior center in Watts. On Tuesday afternoon he’s back at
Dollarhide, after which he goes on to Lynwood. On Wednesday he teaches
a class in Paramount.
Norma Ross and her friend Cleo Smith come to Dollarhide every Tuesday
with Ross’ daughter, Myra Davis, traveling all the way from the Baldwin
Hills area of Los Angeles. The ride takes them about 40 minutes each way,
says Ross.
She’s been rockin’ with the Yellow Rockers since 1986.
“I’m retired, and I wanted something to do. We come for the
exercise,” she
says in between dances. “As a child, I was a Willie Covan Kitty over
on the Eastside. But that was many years ago…”
Off to the side, 68-year-old Arthur Simon takes a breather as a majority
of the group launches into another dance. One of a handful of men who dance
with the group, he became a Yellow Rocker two years ago.
“I was doing a Spanish class down the hall, and I would always hear
the music. So I started peakin’ in,” he said. One day, he was
invited in to dance, and he’s been coming back ever since.
The anniversary showcase will be held at Dollarhide, 1108 N. Oleander
Ave., on Monday, June 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is open to the community.
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