Hip Hop Grannies

Now, with stories on nursing homes, you automatically assume they'll involve kerosene baths and the phrase 'aged care crisis'. Thankfully, not this time.

At Vasey House nursing home on the outskirts of Melbourne, an unusual experiment has seen some of the residents getting a lot more physical activity.

It's Friday morning at the Vasey House aged care facility in Melbourne and the residents are waiting for their dance instructors to arrive.

DORRIE SHALLARD: We look forward to seeing them and dancing with them, and try to be as happy as we can.

PHILLIP PULLAR: The dancing I'd done actually was quickstep, foxtrot ... uh .... modern waltz and tango. All modern dancing.

BILL LANE: When those young guys come - we had them once before - I envied them their muscular ability, because I can't fall over with dignity now.

And here come the instructors. For the last 10 months, these 16-year-olds have come to Vasey House with a mission - to teach the seniors how to breakdance.

HIP HOP INSTRUCTOR: And the elbow comes up, it locks. You're supposed to push up like this. Then the other side happens and then you do the same thing. It goes out. And then you just repeat the process to each arm. It's just to and fro.

Dorrie Shallard is 83. Until recently, she thought that hip-hop was what rabbits did, and breakdancing would mean spending time in traction.

DORRIE SHALLARD: I didn't know anything about rap dancing. I could jitterbug, I could do all the twisting and that sort of thing, but rap dancing, I just didn't know what that was until we saw it. And then I saw them rolling themselves on the floor and shakin' and I thought ... (Laughs) But you'd have a go, you'd have a go. We tried. (Laughs) We'd all have to have stretchers after, probably. We have a lot of fun. There's only one thing - we can't twirl around on the floor.

WOMAN: No, no ... We'll start with the arms ...

STEVE DIVOS, INSTRUCTOR: We first thought it would be people sitting around doing nothing. We came here, they knew so much, they were doing so much.

MIGUEL MARCOS, INSTRUCTOR: It wasn't anything like I expected. You know, I never knew places like this were so much fun. Yeah.

He's not kidding, because in return for the breakdancing lessons, the residents of Vasey House are teaching the boys some dance moves of their own.

STEVE DIVOS: It's hard. (Laughs) It's very hard. I don't know ... (Stumbles) Ooh!

And they're certainly motivated to learn.

HIP HOP INSTRUCTOR: Depends if a girl wants to waltz with me. If it gets me somewhere, I'll waltz.

So, in this touching display of intergenerational crosspollination, everyone comes away happy.

MAN: That was very good. A good exhibition. Yeah. Very fit men. They don't come fitter than that.