My friend Maia.

My friend Maia on Vimeo: "Maia Helles, a Russian ballet dancer "
Shot in Fire Island, New York, this film (4min. 23 sec) captures the secrets of eternal youth as Maia Helles, a Russian ballet dancer turns 95 but still remains resolutely independent, healthy and as fit as a forty year old.
Made by Julia Warr, artist and film maker who met Maia on a plane 4 years ago and became utterly convinced by the benefits of her daily exercise routine, which Maia perfected together with her Mother, over 60 years ago, long before exercise classes were ever invented. Set to the music of Lola Perrin.(2011)

Maïa Leah Abileah Aaron Helles
(November 27, 1916, Geneva, Switzerland - September 4, 2016, New York City)
Lover of beauty,
Dancer,
Teacher,
Mother,
Friend.
One of the first homeowners in Fire Island Pines, Maia's life was an epic stretching from her early childhood in British Palestine, through ballet school in Paris, dance with Col. Basile's Ballets Russe and at the Radio City Music Hall, study at Edwin Piscator's drama school in New York (with her good friend Elaine Stritch, and fellow students Marlon Brando, Tony Curtis and Bea Arthur). For many years, she taught movement classes based on a system developed by her mother; her students spanned generations. Maïa adored art, music and dance - for years, she was a faithful standing-room attendee at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as a fan of Edith Piaf, Ella Fitzgerald and many young artists. She found and kept friends she met on the street and the subway.
Maïa embraced her long life with joy, curiosity and love.

- https://www.facebook.com/102245773168899/photos/a.102377396489070/1163769010349898/?type=3&theater
Courtesy of Frederick Hecker.