Dancing grannies take over hotel lobby to escape smog

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Chinese dancing grannies are known for their unstoppable passion for square dancing, but they seemed to grow weary of dancing outside in the smoggy air.

Last Tuesday, to maintain their health, a group of Chinese grannies from east China's Nanjing City in Jiangsu Province took over a hotel lobby without getting permission from the business ground, local TV reported.

Some grannies are captured entering the hotel's lobby at around 7:30 p.m. on November 27, 2018. /Photo via Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation

The hotel's surveillance camera footage shows more than a dozen senior women trickling into the hotel at around 7:30 p.m. on November 27. Ten minutes later, after getting preparations, they started swaying their bodies with no regard for others.

During this sudden invasion, the hotel staff was forced to call the police because the women refused to leave the premise.

A dozen women are seen dancing in the lobby. /Photo via Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation

However, when the police arrived and asked them to stop, one woman said it was self-justification. “We are just carrying out the national fitness program and making temporary use of our neighbor's area.”

Since the hotel operates in the residential block, where the grannies live, this let them believe they have a right to occupy the venue because they owned the property.

“But a hotel is not a public place, and you are not allowed to disrupt the hotel's management,” the police said immediately after hearing the excuse, yet the dancing women still refused to leave and insisted to finish the day's workout for the next 40 minutes.

The senior women did not intentionally violate the law on public security management. Considering their offense, they were not punished or fined, and later the hotel allowed permission for the dancers to continue.

Senior women are seen dancing in an underground parking garage in Zhengzhou City, central China's Henan Province, February 18, 2017. /VCG Photo

Although it is a convenient way for older people to socialize and exercise, social tensions emerge when they disturb public order or affect others' work and living conditions.

The dedicated women insist their workout routine, regardless of the heavy smog at a plaza in Zhenjiang City, east China's Jiangsu Province, November 26, 2018. /VCG Photo

Wherever there is open space in China, you can find a group of seniors strutting their stuff. Dancing grannies can be seen in public areas like parks or squares across the country, performing synchronized dance routines together to loud music, unfazed by smog, angry neighbors or traffic rules.

In May 2017, a group of senior women in central China's Henan Province went into battle with some young basketball players, commandeering a basketball court and refusing to stand down. The tense faceoff ended up getting physical, sending a video of the incident into an online sensation.

In another incident last year, near south China's Huizhou City of Guangdong Province, some dancing grannies were reluctant to skip their exercise to create a quiet environment on June 6 – a big day for students to take China's national college entrance exam – which drew thousands of angry comments on social media, criticizing their “stubborn” workout insistence.