Carol Wiggins, Marta Rodela and Linda Flynn step and glide in rhythm as Morgan Wallen’s “Whiskey Glasses” blasts out of a nearby speaker at the Waring Senior Center in West Ashley.

As they have moved together in the same corner class after class, the three have bonded through the line dancing and are planning a trip together to Myrtle Beach next year.

“The friends I have made are really FRIEND-friends, the kind that came and got me when I had my surgery,” said Wiggins, 73, who was expecting about 50 of them at a birthday party the next day.

The connection has an added bonus for people their age — it can keep them from being cooped up at home alone, which raises their risk of heart disease, dementia and premature death. The state of South Carolina is determined to help more people follow, or even dance, in their footsteps.

Read the full story by Tom Corwin here.