“I will never quit dancing”. The emotional experiences of social dancing among older persons

Research on dancing in later life has mainly focused on the health-promoting effects of dance, including aspects of well-being, while studies focusing on emotions are rare. The purpose of this article is therefore to contribute to research on older people's dancing through examining emotions in social dancing. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 44 older persons. The analysis shows how successful interaction rituals create positive emotions such as joy and pride and contribute to emotional energy. However, there are also unsuccessful interaction rituals which contribute to negative emotions of sadness and anger. These negative emotions can drain emotional energy, but, importantly for this study, they may also contribute to a forceful counter-energy which motivates the interviewees to try again. We discuss these patterns as emotional energy tropism and as negative emotional energy and positive emotional energy working together. The study provides insight into how and why dancing feels good as well as why older people do not give up dancing despite setbacks. Overall, the study contributes to research discussions about emotions in gray dancing as well as sociology of emotions. •Older people experience both positive and negative emotions while dancing.•Positive and negative emotions lead to positive and negative emotional energy (EE).•The interaction between positive and negative EE explains persistence in dancing.•The dancers are EE-tropists who pursue new interactions that can replenish their EE.•Emotions per se as well as emotional energies can be experienced and perceived in terms of age.