Congressman Charles Rangel has been on a fitness kick lately, doing yoga and spinning—but is Rangel up to the challenge of ballet? NY1’s Michael Scotto filed this report.
It's no secret Congressman Charles Rangel knows how to cut a rug, but putting on ballet slippers Wednesday and taking a dance class at the 92nd Street Y? For Rangel, that was a step too far.
“They didn't have my size,” Rangel said.
Instead, he sat back and left the dancing to his wife, Alma, who had come along to learn some ballet basics.
“I'm an avid fan of ballet. First, we had been in Russia. We were in St. Petersburg and we saw that, and I was fascinated,” said Alma Rangel.
While Rangel didn't dance, his appearance here did help highlight his newest passion: fitness and healthy living.
Over the last few months, the nearly 85-year-old Rangel has tried spinning. He’s also mastered the art of making a smoothie. His wife, a longtime tennis player, has played a role in improving his health.
Alma Rangel: “I don't like to use the expression push.”
Charles Rangel: “What would you like to use?”
Alma Rangel: “I encourage him. I don't let him shop for things he shouldn't have. If it comes into my kitchen, I give it to my church for the homeless.”
“I'm 85 and I regret I started so late to take care of myself, but you know what they say, in the 15th round, you go for a knockout,'" Rangel said.
The two met more than fifty years ago at the old Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Mrs. Rangel says her future husband asked her to dance.
Since then, Rangel has had no trouble on the dance floor, and insists he's open to trying ballet—one day.
“She has to teach me something. I have to work up to this, you know,” Rangel says.