Donning yellow trousers, shiny platform shoes, red lipstick and headphones, 80-year-old ‘DJ Wika’ stands behind the decks, mixing party music in a huge Warsaw club.
Instead of baby-sitting grandchildren, Poland’s oldest DJ Wirginia Szmyt packs her CDs, mixer and laptop, and heads off to spin for a packed dance floor of mainly senior citizens.
DJ Wika said she does not care if people like the fact that she dances while at the decks or not, because she cannot play and stand still.
“When I play, I feel the melody, I feel the rhythm,” she said.
Aware of the rejuvenating quality of music for the mind and body, the self-trained Wika has been DJ-ing for Polish retirees for two decades, earning widespread respect in the trade.
Every Monday night, she entertains about 1,000 people at the Hula Kula club, smashing stereotypes and empowering seniors as she plays everything from disco and rock to samba and ballads.
Wika, a former special educational teacher, said that she doesn’t see why her age should determine how she lives her life, saying that she does not fit stereotypes of elderly people.
Her message to ‘youths’ of 40 or so years old was that life does not end at 70, she said, adding that she was twice that age and did not feel old at all.