At the age of 76, Josephine Burden has taken dance from her kitchen to the Valletta Campus Theatre, where on Saturday she will be participating in a five-hour performance.

She will not be dancing the whole five hours: Josephine is one of 24 professional and non-professional dancers aged eight to 76 who answered a public call by the national dance company ŻfinMalta.

They will be regaling an audience, who can walk in and out of the theatre as they please, with their solo interpretation of Threaded Fine – a new dance work by the renowned British choreographer Rosemary Lee.

The solos will be performed one after the other like a relay, starting with the youngest and ending with Josephine.

Of Maltese descent, Josephine returned to the island permanently 10 years ago.

In order to live fully we need to use our body in whatever way is appropriate for us, and for some of us that is dancing

An academic by profession, she considers herself an active Maltese citizen and is quite vocal about the state of the environment among others. As the years rolled by, she realised that when it comes to expressing oneself, using one’s body was as important as speaking. Speaking to Times of Malta ahead of a dress rehearsal, she recalled taking up dancing more than 50 years ago when she was reading for an honours degree in psychology and physical education.

Back then, Josephine had followed a modern education dance course which focused on using one’s movements to be creative and being aware of how one’s body moved in space and in relation to other people.

Why did she return to dance five decades later?

“The older we get, the fewer the opportunities to dance. This initiative allowed me the opportunity to move from just dancing around the kitchen to participating in a dance project within the community.

“Dance is about life… about living. In order to live fully we need to use our body in whatever way is appropriate for us, and for some of us that is dancing.”

Would she recommend it to others?

“I’ve learnt not to recommend things to people, however, I would tell people my age to continue engaging in whatever is of interest to us. Some might find dance a really good way of engaging with the community.”

Under the artistic direction of ŻfinMalta’s Paolo Mangiola, the dancers will be accompanied by composer and singer Isaac Lee-Kronick. The performance, which will be held tomorrow between 4pm and 9pm, is supported by the Valletta Cultural Agency, British Council, the Department of Dance Studies, the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta and the Mediterranean Conference Centre.

Log on to www.kultura.mt for more information.