On any given night at Club Silhouette in Metairie, you’ll find the lean, tight, flexible figures and physiques of 30 to 80-something-year-olds.

“It has so increased my core strength and it's made my posture much better, and it makes you want to stay in shape,” said 52-year-old Celeste Pfefferle, who’s been dancing with husband for the last six years.

Pfefferle and her husband, Keith Gussoni, 53, perform across the country and have won awards competing with dancers in their 20s. They said without dancing, their bodies changed.

“When we stopped for a while with Hurricane Katrina, all of a sudden everything started hurting, we started gaining weight and we weren't eating any more,” Pfefferle said.

Said Gussoni: “Sometimes we'll take off a couple of weeks and I can feel a difference. And at our age, it's very important to stay fit.”

The club and dance classes are filled with men and women who are in shape, or are on their way down to their goal weights.

“I think the secret to dancing is that it's fun and you don't think of it as exercise,” said health and fitness expert Mackie Shilstone. “I think that's the biggest key.”

Dr. Melinda Sothern, a health expert at LSU Health Sciences Center, said dancing is an underrated activity for health, even though it’s something people have done for centuries and is comfortable and easy to do.

Sothern said there are countless studies that show people who dance get an excellent workout for their hearts. They also sleep better, their abdominal and back muscles are stronger, there’s less bone loss. With their balance, posture and joints are improved they fall less and climb stairs more easily. And even their brain health is improved; with a lower risk for dementia, as well as better thinking ability. Emotionally they have better moods, and less stress depression and loneliness.

“There are great studies to show that music is a motivational tool. The minute you play music, people will move faster, they'll be more invigorated,” Sothern said. “There are even studies that show music makes you smarter; it makes you think better.”

Sothern said some of her relatives took up dancing for many years and not only did they get in shape, but both of them had heart disease, which went away over time.

Another reason people stick with dancing – the fun factor.

“Well, you see some of the women that come out here and you want to come out and dance,” said 48-year-old Randy Blitz. He’s lost 10 pounds and began to tone up since coming to the classes.

Sandi De Los Reyes, 57, is 40 pounds lighter than before she began dancing. Her husband is 14 years younger and she credits Weight Watchers and the dancing for her diet and new life.

“The dancing keeps me in really great shape,” Reyes said. “I have a lot more energy; I can dance forever. It's more fun than anything.”

Many of the women drive in from Baton Rouge on a weeknight just to perform the dozens and dozens of routines they’ve committed to memory.

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52-year-old Celeste Pfefferle and her husband, 53-year-old Keith Gussoni, have won dancing contests competing against other couples half their age.

One of the dancers said she has 300 line dances memorized, since she began dancing in 1991. She said she’d never hang around people her own age since she feels so young. And by the way, she’s 80-years-old.

“Dancing, by nature…is literally doing an aerobic circuit with strength in between, because there is a weight that you're moving,” Shilstone said.

Dancing mimics one of the most effective workouts, called ‘interval training,’ where you move fast and hard, then rest before moving fast again. It’s known to burn lots of calories, and the cardio workout prevents heart disease and diabetes.

“I don’t think you can go wrong (dancing),” Sothern said. “So if you're thinking about getting in a dance class, don't think about it. Do it.”