At 103, Kitty Cohen didn’t let age keep her from running the bases at a Toronto Blue Jays game in July.
And she certainly wasn’t going to let it keep her from performing in front of an audience of 1,000 dance enthusiasts, either.
The courageous centenarian captured hearts and headlines in July after she ran the bases at a Toronto Blue Jays game and threw the first pitch. She said, in a televised interview at the time, that her next goal was to find a dance partner she could jive with.
Canadian choreographer Blake McGrath, best known for his appearance as a contestant on the first season of “So You Think You Can Dance,” heeded her call.
McGrath told CTV News Channel that when he saw Cohen on television, he felt she was speaking to him.
“So beautiful, (she) just reminded me of my grandmother who passed about 10 years ago. So I knew without a doubt, I was like, ‘I am your dance partner, Kitty, and I am coming for you.’”
McGrath took Cohen for a twirl around the CTV News Channel studio in Toronto.
On Sunday, Toronto’s 103-year-old dancing queen’s dream finally came to fruition.
Cohen and choreographer Blake McGrath danced cheek-to-cheek in front of fans and some of the world’s top dancers at the Toronto International Centre.
The two may be generations apart, but they still dance to the same beat.
“It’s hard not to fall in love instantly with her,” McGrath said.
And it seems Blake swept Kitty off her feet.
“A dream come true,” said Cohen, while describing her dance with McGrath. Her daughter, Bernie Riley, said the experience “was like a Cinderella story.”
The duo danced two of Kitty’s favourite dances from her day: the cha-cha and the Charleston.
As for Kitty’s next grand dream she told CTV News Channel she would “just like to have someone like Blake to continue seeing me and take me out to dancehalls.”
