Shanghai's elderly waltz back to the past at lunchtime dance halls

A group of retirees cheered under disco lights as 60-year-old Xu Li leapt into her partner's arms, her legs spread akimbo in perfect splits.

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Elderly guests dancing at Shiguang Dance Hall (above) in the Putuo district and Hai Shang Jiu Meng Dance Hall (left) in the Changning district. Both are in Shanghai, where dance hall culture has been deeply rooted in the city's identity since its jazz-age heyday.

(PHOTOS: AFP)

It was just a regular Wednesday at one of Shanghai's many lunchtime dance clubs, a phenomenon born of the city's deeply rooted love of ballroom culture from its jazz-age heyday.

On any given day, multiple venues host hours-long daytime sessions across the finance hub, some starting as early as 6am.

Establishments such as the historic Paramount Ballroom are time capsules from the 1930s, while others flash with neon pink and green rave lights in the early afternoon.

All are important spaces for their mostly elderly clientele to socialise and reclaim the past via the medium of foxtrot, rumba and polka.

"I was quite lonely at home," said Mr Lin Guang, 66, at a dance hall called Old Dreams Of Shanghai in December, explaining he had felt lost after retiring.