WHEN Madge Hitchens dances on a Saturday night it is worth stopping to watch.
She may not be quite as graceful or as light on her feet as she once was, but at 100 years of age she is still a show stopper.
Madge has been a long-time Nirvana Social Club member and on a special French-themed evening she once appeared as a showgirl in fish net stockings and a slit skirt showing a great pair of legs.
She also has appeared at other monthly theme nights dressed as a devil, Minnie Mouse and a scantily-dressed cowgirl among many other characters - all carried off with style and humour.
The club, which holds ball room dancing every Saturday night at the Leederville Town Hall, is proud of its oldest member and held a gala dance in her honour to celebrate her 100th birthday in February.
Each week Madge has driven herself from the northern suburbs to the hall, entered with a beaming smile, always looking smart - except when she dresses to shock - and danced up a storm.
That has how it's been for Madge for the past four decades and before then she danced her way around plenty of tiny isolated country halls.
There are countless others who have fond memories of country dances, that back then, were probably the modern-day equivalent to a dating website.
Wagin man Alan Lord is the Nirvana Social Club's secretary and said the club had been going for 51 years but sadly, numbers have declined in the past decade as members have aged and found dancing more difficult and as members have passed on.
"A number of our members have roots in the country where they learned to dance in their younger days but even the country dances are fading because of the same problem," Mr Lord said.
"We've been trying hard to entice new younger members - I'm one but I am still in my mid-60s."
There are not many who are less than 50 - the age group is more like 60-70 and there's quite a few in their 80s.
Mr Lord is hopeful that like many other bygone preoccupations, old-time dancing will be reinvented to become new again.
He said most youngsters these days don't see a night of dancing as something exciting and attractive enough to put in the effort to learn the dances.
"There are kids in Perth who take lessons and can dance better than I can, but the following is not as it used to be."
Retired Boyup Brook farmer Jim Lee-Steere remembers country halls like Wakanup, which is no longer there, and especially Noggerup which had a beautiful white gum floor and was lovely to dance upon and was where he met his wife.
There are plenty of other older people who found their partner at country dances in remote halls and enjoyed the suppers and socialisation in an atmosphere that was friendly and welcoming.
Mind you there were plenty of menfolk who bypassed the supper table and took stronger refreshment outside in the dark as most organisers never bothered with a liquor licence.
Before the Nirvana Social Club, Madge lived in the country and went to plenty of Saturday night dances.
She was an only-child born on February 3, 1920 at Wagin where parents Harold and Isabella Jefferies were farming.
She went to school locally and became a teacher when she finished.
Her daughter Noreen Williams said if you could read and write you had the prerequisites to be a teacher and she taught at many of the little school houses around Wagin, including out at Harrismith.
On a sad note she was engaged to a man who enlisted immediately the second World War broke out.
She waited four years for him to return but just six weeks before he was due home he was killed.
Madge still has the telegram informing her of the news.
In another blow to the family, they lost their farm during the war years when the bank foreclosed and the family was forced to sell up.
When Madge was young country dances were the social fabric of isolated communities.
She learned to dance in country halls as a way to meet people but later she moved to Perth, married and raised four children.
Noreen said her mother was still a typical country person at heart and was generally a quiet lady, having grown up as an only child on a lonely country farm, but her effervescence bubbles once she puts on her dancing dress.
For someone who wants to take up dancing just finding a country dance can be a challenge.
There were dance circuits everywhere in the country but many have ceased to be.
Even so it is a rare Saturday that the Wagin circuit including Piesseville, Highbury, Popanyinning and, occasionally, Moodiarrup don't have the band playing live - even today it is always live music - and they still get 20-30 taking the floor.
The Wagin circuit is strong in comparison with some others and Mr Lord said it was, in part, due to locals Bernie and Christine Evans who have been stalwarts of the scene
The couple share their time between their Wagin farm and retirement house in Albany and although Christine no longer dances, Bernie is still as keen as ever.
It is pretty much the norm to go dancing three to four times a week keeping him active and fit.
He and daughter Nadine compete for medals in Albany and at Wagin, Bernie is one of a core of experienced local dancers who help and instruct others on Friday night practice sessions.
"It doesn't matter if you can or can't dance if people want come to a practice session there is someone who can teach them, they will have fun and it costs very little", Christine said.
She remembers her parents dancing at halls like Nippering and Brookfield in areas that are no more than a vague area on a map and others like Wedgecarrup and Arthur River that held their own dances in the Wagin circuit.
Old time dancing has a strong following on the west coast - but in the regions it is the enthusiasm of a few people that keeps them going.
Christine finds it unusual that many parents think it is important for their children to learn to dance and send them for lessons but then don't t take them to dances, saying it is like taking them to hockey training but never letting them play in a game.
"It's a pity because I think they should learn the etiquette they only get from going to dances," Christine said.
Alan said there was a nice group going on Friday nights in Wagin for the practice session and informal instruction and it was a chance to improve, as well as learn some new dances.
It was only about four years ago that he decided to go back to dancing, thinking it wouldn't take long to remember the old dances he learned in his youth for the Narrogin school ball.
It was far more consuming than he and partner Karen Poole ever imagined and today practising and learning new dances is ongoing enjoyment.
Once there was a little book with arrows that showed the steps.
"Now you dance with your iPad and watch YouTube."
A regular dance night is a blend of ballroom styles such as the quickstep and foxtrot or new vogue sequence dances such as the Lucille waltz; some old-time styles such as the barn dance and gypsy tap; as well as the Latin cha cha and rhumba and the jive.
