World

Christmas Parade: ‘Dancing Grannies’ Is Devastated

Short skirts. Sparkling flowers. The hip wobble. Great-grandson.

It’s the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, a Wisconsin holiday dance parade for nearly 40 years, and a joyful change of pace in America’s expectation that parades are supposed to be dominated by troupes. school age dance.

But tragedy befell the group as they marched down another Main Street on Sunday, holiday music blasting all around them, three old ladies dead.

“Our team did what they loved, performing in front of a crowd in a parade,” the group said in a statement Monday morning. “Bringing smiles on the faces of all ages, filled with joy and happiness.”

According to authorities, the driver of a red SUV plowed into a Christmas parade in the town of Milwaukee, outside Waukesha, killing at least five people and injuring 48. Police said he was leaving the scene of a domestic dispute and did not appear to know anyone in the parade as he drove onto the route.

Less than an hour earlier, the Grannies had appealed to fans on their Facebook page.

“Waukesha we come!!!” shouted post. “The Grannies are starting their holiday parades.”

Dancing Grannies grew out of an exercise class in 1984, with dozens of women, most in their mid-50s to mid-70s, cycling in and out of the group over the years. They only have one requirement: You need to be a grandma.

Police identified the dead as Virginia Sorenson, 79; LeAnna Owen, 71 years old; Tamara Durand, 52 years old; and Wilhelm Hospel, 81 years old. The three women were members of the Grannies, and Hospel helped the ensemble in their performances.

Durand will do her first performance with the Grannies on Sunday, said her husband, Dave Durand, who was not at the parade. She had seen them perform only once before deciding to join – simply because she found joy in dancing.

“She basically danced her way her whole life,” he said of his wife of eight years, a hospice chaplain and former high school and college cheerleader who ” super excited” with her first performance.

“She is absolutely full of energy and is her happiest when it comes to dancing,” he said.

Tamara Durand is a mother of three with one grandchild. She babysits her grandson so her daughter can complete her nursing program, while also volunteering at hospitals and childcare institutions.

“She’s an Energizer bunny,” says Dave Durand, who runs every morning regardless of the weather. And she can never give up sweets, eating “more sugar than a sugar mill.”

Jane Kulich, 52, also died. Local reports said she worked for a local branch of Citizens Bank, which issued a notice saying an employee was “walking with our parade float” when she was hit. touch and die. The bank did not identify the employee.

Sorenson, a dance lover who had to give up the hobby years ago after surgery, is the group’s longtime choreographer.

“It was like I lost a best friend” when she had to stop dancing, she told WDJT, the Milwaukee CBS affiliate, in an August story about the group. The Grannies brought that joy. “I love it, and I love the women.”

David Sorenson, her husband of nearly 60 years, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel how much she enjoyed working with the Grannies.

“What did she like about it? Everything,” Sorenson said. “She loves instruction. She loves dancing and the camaraderie of women. She loves performing.”

And, he said, “She taught me how to make the camera.”

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