Crows Feet: 10 years old in 2009

In 1999 director Jan Bolwell, at the age of 48, was recovering from two bouts of breast cancer. She began dancing again to aid her recovery. A group of women about Jan's age saw Gaylene Preston’s film about breast cancer Titless Wonders in which Jan dances Off My Chest. They approached Jan and said, ‘We want to dance like that. Will you teach us?’ That’s how Crows Feet Dance Collective was born.

An original group of four grew to eighteen, and in 2009 we included six grandmothers, with the eldest being 69.

Crows Feet’s first public performance took place in 1999 at the launch of Osteoporosis New Zealand at the Michael Fowler Centre. Apart from annual dance concerts we have performed at a number of different events, including a National Midwives Conference, a National Women's Convention, and a Cancer Society conference (2008). We are regular contributors to Wellington's International Dance Day, running classes and demonstrations. In 2008 we performed at the Fringe Festivals in Wellington and Dunedin.

Penny Towns of Inspire Photography, Wellington, takes all our publicity photos, and always has done.

The Crows Feet repertoire 1999–2010

All choreography is by Jan Bolwell unless otherwise stated.

• 1999: In Shadow Dreaming
• 2000: Throwing Like a Girl
• 2001: Patsy Cline
• 2002: Ancestors
• 2003: Cross Currents
• 2004: Dear God, Degas! and Women's Work
• 2005: The Woman’s Mag and A Motor in my Soul
• 2006: Quintet and Going for Baroque
• 2007 & 2008: Requiem and Take Five (choreography by Jenny Cossey)
• 2009: Choros & Leaving Home
• 2010: How to be a Domestic Goddess - Revue de Cuisine