Audrey Keefe | akeefe@alextimes.com

For 97 years, Olive Rosen has been a vibrant woman looking to spread her passion for dance, believing that finding a passion is something that keeps one’s spirit alive and well.

“If you can get up every morning [and] you’re happy about what you’re doing, I don’t think that you really need to ask for very much more,” Rosen said.

Rosen’s career began in 1944 when she learned that a dancer from her studio, Phillis Wells, was planning to quit acrobatic dance. Rosen wouldn’t have it. The then-17-year-old from Bridgeport, Connecticut, took on a new role as Wells’ partner, venturing into a vast world of show business upon graduating from high school. Rosen didn’t know it then, but this leap of faith would impact the trajectory of her entire life.

The acrobatic dance duo took their own respective stage names – Rosen was “Gail Raye” and Wells was “Sunny Lane” – and joined the world of acrobatic dance as soon as their costumes were ready.

“I lucked out my whole situation, getting the partner that I got to start with, who had some experience,” Rosen said.

Known as the “Acro-Beauties,” the duo opened for performers like The Andrews Sisters and Abbott and Costello on various stages in the United States, including the original Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas under American mobster Bugsy Siegel’s watchful eye. They traveled from coast to coast, performing up to five shows a night.

“I loved acrobatics,” Rosen said.

In May, Rosen had the chance to reflect on her days as an acrobatic dancer during a performance from acrobatic artist Amanda Finch, the founder of Down to Earth Aerials. Finch, who studied aerial acrobatics with the Cirque du Soleil school in Canada, knew she needed to meet Rosen if given the opportunity.

The performance was held on the terrace of the senior living community, Elancé at West End, where Rosen resides. This opportunity was a part of their WOW Moment initiative, which helps senior living residents complete bucket list items and reminisce on past times.

“I think it’s important for me personally to see strength in a different way in women,” Finch said. “It’s not typical of women to be this physically strong, and it’s a juxtaposition of someone being tiny and attractive but also incredibly strong.”

For this special occasion and to honor Rosen, Finch performed a routine to The Andrews Sisters’ “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” using silks and wearing a costume resembling the 1940s. With good friends and her daughter Barbara by her side, Rosen experienced a performance that differed from her time as an acrobatic dancer, but reminded her of the magic of her passion.

“It was absolutely amazing. I went into it really with no expectations and, wow, it was really incredible,” Barbara said. “It was kind of like from one performer to another, completely different eras and different forms of acrobatic performance as well.”

Following the performance, Rosen and Finch shared stories of their differing experiences and connected through their love of acrobatic dance. Finch drew attention to how unusual Rosen’s story is: two women performing on stages throughout the country and pursuing their dream independent of a man in the 1940s.

“It wasn’t typical back then,” Finch said. “I was so intrigued and impressed by [Rosen].”

But, Rosen didn’t see her experience as a rarity. In fact, she said she was doing the job that needed to be done, so her nerves were limited.

“I wasn’t that nervous,” Rosen said. “It was expected of me.”

Rosen and Wells became iconic figures from Miami to Boston to Springfield, Illinois, performing to Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard’s “Sweet Georgia Brown.” At times, the duo would be booked for three shows in one night on weekends and two on weekdays, which Rosen balked at during their stint in Miami.

“It was crazy and I told our agent, ‘If you ever [triple] book us like this again, you’re fired,’” Rosen said.

During their stint in Boston at the Latin Quarter, a venue with a French New Orleans theme, the “Acro-Beauties” went out of their comfort zone and decided to meet with two men after the show in 1946. Those two men were Col. Melvin Rosen and Johnny Alexander, who met in a Gloucester, Massachusetts, high school. Something was different about Col. Rosen and Alexander and, right off the bat, Rosen paired with Alexander and Wells with Col. Rosen.

The matchup quickly shifted when Col. Rosen and Rosen got on the topic of delis, realizing they were both Jewish. The pair began to date while Rosen was performing throughout the country and Col. Rosen was returning to the military after his recovery from being a Japanese Prisoner of War. Three dates later, he would become her husband.

“Dad would try to call her at every location she was playing,” Barbara said.

Col. Rosen was a member of the United States military and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1940. He served overseas in the Philippines beginning in 1941. After commanding a battalion of the Philippine Scouts, Col. Rosen fought Japanese Army forces in Luzon for five months. In September 1945, he was liberated by U.S. forces in Inchon after being a prisoner of war for two and a half years. Col. Rosen recovered at Camp Devens in Massachusetts.

The pair eloped in a rabbi’s study on Mar. 9, 1947. Rosen ended her career as an acrobatic dancer to start a family and commit to Col. Rosen’s life in the military.

Even after she ended her career, her acrobatic skills shone through in their own ways. While Col. Rosen was stationed in Germany as a battalion commander in 1954, Rosen settled into life overseas and joined a bowling league with the other wives. With a large score deficit, Rosen wanted to motivate her team to win.

“I said, like an idiot: ‘If we win I’ll walk down the bowling alley on my hands.’ You know all the eyebrows went up,” Rosen said.

And they won.

“So I got up on my hands at the top of the lane, and I walked down the bowling lane on my hands,” Rosen said. “I hit one pin in the front real quick, because I couldn’t stand on one hand for very long, and then turned around and I walked back up [the] bowling alley [on my hands] and sat down.”

Rosen’s acrobatic skills became the talk of the post the next day to her husband’s dismay.

“My husband was so angry with me he was ready to send me back to the States,” Rosen said.

The acrobatic dancer side of Rosen has stayed with her throughout her life. Barbara even recalled that, while in high school, her mother was still doing back walkovers in their front yard.

“It took me about 10 years to get show business out of my system,” Rosen said. “I felt fortunate enough to be able to do what I was able to do.”

The Rosens relocated to Annandale in 1963 and raised their children there, which was atypical for an Army family. The couple retired together in Northern Virginia because of its proximity to Washington, D.C.

Col. Rosen died on Aug. 1, 2007, at the age of 89, after a distinguished Army career and 60 years of marriage. Rosen relocated to the City of Alexandria and now lives at Elancé. She was diagnosed with dementia many years ago, but Barbara said she is high-functioning despite the diagnosis. She is just as vibrant as the day she began her dance career.

“We call her ‘The Bionic Woman,’” Barbara said. “You probably haven’t met too many people who have had five hip replacements.”

At 97, Rosen can still stand up and place her hands flat on the floor and has arm muscles like no other.

“What’s so strange?” Rosen said with a chuckle. “Doesn’t everybody do that?”

She considers being upright a success for the day. Rosen spends her time admiring collected artwork and memorabilia from around the world and her great-grandmother’s paintings scattered on the walls of her residence at Elancé.

Rosen is now a grandmother and great-grandmother and said her children, Barbara and David, bring her the most joy in the world. She continues to live a life of passion and inspires others, like Finch, to do the same.

“She was just innately kind and 100% authentic, and she was such a warm person,” Finch said. “I feel really lucky that I got to sit down and talk to her, and I wanted to make sure I was fully present in that moment.”