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Three Lives: Dancing on the Edge of Existence

Septuagenarian Buddhist cabaret performer Jack Poggi tap-dances his way to a new lease on life and a new take on death

Jack Poggi

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© Tobias Klutke

At the age of seventy-four, I find myself increasingly preoccupied with thoughts of approaching old age and death. It seems that almost every morning when I scan the obituary page of the New York Times, I find that more than half of those who died the previous day were my age or younger.

I feel lucky in a way. When I go out for my morning run along the shores of the Hudson River, I think of today as an “extra” day, one I did nothing special to deserve and have no reason to expect. But there it is, a gift, not to be wasted.

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