67-Year-Old Olya From Chernogorsk Dances on Stilettos

Former masseuse from Khakassia Olga Isakova never imagined she would become an internet star after retirement. Yet, watching this slender woman perform dance moves on towering stilettos at the dance floor, you would never believe she is already a pensioner.

The Zhemchuzhny resort in Shira has known about Olga«s dancing for 30 years, but the internet only saw it for the first time in 2026. NGS24.RU correspondent Tatyana Zarva found out how many outfits Olga Borisovna owns, whether her life changed after gaining popularity, and what she advises women who are afraid to be themselves.

“Why would I need vegetable gardens or dachas?”

According to Olga Borisovna«s daughter Alyona, she started taking care of herself after raising her children. The woman has two daughters, whom she raised alone, and she began finding time for herself only after both got married.

— Mom started dancing and seriously focused on herself after raising us—marrying us off. She slowly began to come to her senses and started to show herself somewhere, — says Alyona.

At the same time, Olga herself noted in a conversation with an NGS24.RU correspondent that dancing has always been in her life. She just wasn«t as actively involved, but picked up moves from TV shows.

— I«m just a dance enthusiast; I have no professional training. People living at the base argue and say, “Only a professional can dance like that.” I say, “No, I just watched TV—»Dancing with the Stars.« When the shows were on, I quietly picked up those beautiful moves from there,” — says Olga.

Unlike other pensioners, Olga Borisovna does not keep a household and has no vegetable garden. As her daughter Alyona clarifies, they never had a dacha, and the family lived in an apartment all their lives. According to Olga Borisovna, there was no time for a garden because of work—she worked as a masseuse all her life and even helped children with disabilities.

— Earlier, I worked, treated very serious illnesses, so I was so tired that I had no time for a garden. Why would I need vegetable gardens or dachas when I could simply go and buy everything with money? I just didn«t have the strength, — explains Olga.

At the Zhemchuzhny resort in Shira (Republic of Khakassia), she spends one of the three summer months annually, sometimes bringing her daughter Alyona along. Dancing is not the only activity there; she spends the rest of her free time on a bicycle or roller skates, and she loves the beach, but for Olga, it«s a place where she doesn»t just lie around sunbathing.

— I swim, dry off, and quickly start applying everything to myself. All those oils, creams, and it really inspires me that my skin is beautiful, — she says.

She«s referring to massage jars, anti-cellulite creams, and oils. While other vacationers just sunbathe or swim, Olga Borisovna works on herself.

There is no alcohol in the pensioner«s life, and there never has been; she dislikes noisy gatherings and feasts. Olga Borisovna hardly uses decorative or skincare cosmetics—only lipstick, ice, and homemade seaweed cream.

“We come every year to admire you”

Olga Borisovna has always attracted attention with her outfits, but the Zhemchuzhny resort in Shira, where she has been going for 30 years, brought her real fame. Here, the bright dancing woman was quickly noticed, and after discos, people began approaching her with compliments, which she loved.

— It«s a real holiday for me! I arrive—they»re already waiting for me here. I«ve made friends here; they say, “We come every year to admire you,” — she adds.

At the resort, Olga Borisovna was recognized even by her roller skates, and once she was even mistaken for a child.

— We found it hilarious: there were sanatoriums and children«s camps here, and on the first day, the kids didn»t realize it wasn«t a girl on skates but a woman. One boy shouts, “Girl!” and when I came down from the cafeteria, all three groups were laughing their heads off.

One of them says, “Some girl you found! That«s a grandma,” and they always shouted to me when going to the disco or cafeteria, “Here comes our girl!” I was pleased because I was wearing a crop top and shorts, and they took me for a girl. Well, that»s nice, — Olga recounts.

Even then, the woman faced mixed opinions from people; passersby often commented on her behavior and outfits, usually saying she did it out of idleness.

— I don«t have to go far; when I head off on vacation, my acquaintances sit on benches. I walk past them with skates in hand, and they say, “Oh, you»re just doing it out of idleness.” I say, “Yes, out of idleness.” But to myself I think: first one grandson got sick, then another, then something else. They don«t know my life, — she says.

“Half the house from home”

Those who call her hobby idleness probably don«t grasp the scale of preparation: for a month of vacation, Olga Borisovna takes about 40 different outfits and picks them all herself.

— My grandson brings them and says, “Half the house from home,” and I say, “No, not half, a third,” because 18 gorgeous pairs of shoes are left at home. I brought the most comfortable ones because we dance for three hours without a break.

So shoes are a separate concern for Olga Borisovna. She dances without sitting down, so the shoes must withstand serious strain—not every pair can handle that.

— There are uncomfortable shoes where you last two hours, and then your feet just explode.

Her favorite pair with 13-centimeter stilettos, for example, couldn«t withstand the resort asphalt and cracked right this season. At home, she has a pair with 15-centimeter heels, but those are no longer for dancing, only for photos.

— For me, that«s the limit. I started having foot problems. I can only pose in them now, like a model, fully dressed.

Olga finds her outfits not on marketplaces but in offline stores in Chernogorsk or Abakan, though she doesn«t suffer from shopaholism. Her new looks often come from items she bought long ago combined with a new blouse. At the same time, Olga doesn»t focus on clothes that hide her or are comfortable but on something eye-catching.

— I try to pick outfits that are, like, extreme. I mean, so short that some older people don«t even want to recognize me. But young people embrace me enthusiastically.

“I wasn«t even ready to end up on Instagram*”

Online fame came to Olga Borisovna suddenly. First, eyelash extension master Victoria posted a video of her on Instagram*. Then the clip went viral on other social networks: some made memes about how they want to be in old age, others just admired in the comments.

Olga Borisovna herself didn«t learn about the scale of her popularity right away. Eight bloggers were vacationing in Zhemchuzhny at the same time as her, and that only became clear on the third day.

— The first blogger ran up to me and said, “You danced with my husband yesterday; do you know how many views you got? I wake up in the morning—a million and a half views.” By lunch, it was two million. And she says, “Please, don«t give it up, because people are interested in you,” — the woman recalls.

Meanwhile, followers started asking why such a popular heroine didn«t have her own page, and then it turned out she actually had one, just abandoned.

An earlier attempt to go on social media had also happened: her daughter posted videos of Olga Borisovna«s dances on TikTok earlier, but then the video only got 70,000 views, and the family decided to drop the idea.

— Well, you had a page; we just abandoned it, — says Alyona. — She«s not into pages, and we all have our own things to do.

It was granddaughter Katarina—who was as surprised as anyone—who convinced Olga Borisovna to revive the page.

— It«s really hard to get into social media, — Olga admits. — When I heard an astrologer, Angela Pearl, she was talking about Pisces and how we»d spend July. She wrote that you«ll have huge stardom. I thought, “I have stardom every year; I»m used to it.” But I wasn«t even ready to end up on Instagram* (an extremist organization banned in Russia).

At the same time, Olga Borisovna doesn«t plan to limit herself to reposts on the banned social network and intends to start blogging on her own, not through her granddaughter.

— Grandmas should also grow. For example, we now have a health program. And I think to myself, “Starting in September, I«ll go to yoga, I»ll learn to work with a computer so I can easily work online.” And now I believe Angela was right: big changes await me this year, — she says.

NGS24.RU journalists are not the first to notice Olga Borisovna. Even before this interview, the heroine managed to comment for Zolotoe Yabloko, and her video was noticed by TV host Yana Churikova, who admitted she became a true fan of the dancing pensioner.

“I won«t give up dancing to anyone”

Despite sudden fame, Olga Borisovna doesn«t plan to stop dancing—for her, it»s not an image or part of a persona, but personal time she«s not ready to sacrifice for anyone.

— This is my life. That«s all there is, and no one can take it from me. I always say, even when people stop me and ask, “Can we talk, chat? Let»s set a time.” I say, “No, I won«t give up dancing to anyone.” No matter what they say.

Friends come up: “Olya, we«re going here; come with us.” No, I won»t give up my dancing to anyone. It«s my time. I don»t understand when people pull me away from dancing, — Olga says.

Despite her vigor and energy, years do take their toll even on the resort«s most active pensioner.

Olga Borisovna used to get up at five in the morning to catch the sea air and swim while the water was still warm, then slept until nine. Now her routine has changed not because she«s lazy but because dancing tires her more.

— I used to get up very early, at five in the morning, and still managed to swim. I«d come home and sleep until nine. That was before. Now I»ve gotten a bit spoiled—dancing tires me out a little. So I need more sleep. I don«t get up at five anymore; I can easily get up at half past nine or ten, — notes the pensioner.

Her diet is light: salad, fruit, nothing heavy. Olga Borisovna spends almost the whole day at the beach—swimming, taking care of herself. And before dancing, she tries not to eat anything so all her energy goes to the dance floor, not to digestion.

— For dancing, I can«t eat dinner. Because if I have dinner, those dances won»t happen; I won«t be able to dance so beautifully; I»ll be thinking about my stomach. So at four o«clock I ate fruit, and that»s it, topic closed.

And so we dance with such a good mood that my stomach is quiet and calm, nothing is digesting. And all my energy goes into dancing. But when a person has eaten, all their energy goes into digestion, — she explains.

But the hardest part of the day starts after the dance floor, and it«s what lies behind the ease with which Olga Borisovna moves in public.

— Every evening, when I come back from dancing, my legs start to ache. Stilettos are tough; at this age, there are changes in the foot. And until two in the morning, I fight with my legs.

“25 years of the same music”

Olga Borisovna can«t name a single favorite song; she says she loves everything youthful and prefers live music with a constantly updated repertoire rather than the same melody year after year.

— It«s hard for me to name favorites. I love everything youthful. And I even get into an unpleasant conversation with the brass band that plays in Abakan at Orlyonok on Fridays. I say, “What»s this? 25 years of the same music. It«s gotten boring; let»s change things up,” — she says.

According to her, the local brass band in Abakan hasn«t changed its program for years, and it frankly irritates her. Salvation was found at separate discos on Saturdays, where almost half the city gathers.

— Sitting and listening to the same music for 25 years gets tiring; it«s not interesting. Then they came up with an idea, thank Orlyonok, they started organizing discos for us on Saturdays. Once a week, an ordinary DJ plays music, and every two minutes a new song comes on without a break. And we dance there. You know, half the city shows up for the disco. But they don»t want to go to the brass band because nothing changes there, — she says.

But in Minusinsk, where Olga Borisovna specifically went to dance, things are quite different: the local brass band was ready to accommodate her wishes.

— And Minusinsk—they«re great; I went to them. I approach them and say, “Could I have some rock »n« roll?” They say, “You»ll have your rock «n» roll.” Imagine, the brass band even agreed to my requests. And as soon as I got onto Instagram* (an extremist organization banned in Russia), they wrote a comment: “We know her; she came to dance with us.”

For that, she had to travel a considerable distance—from Chernogorsk to Abakan, and from there even further to Minusinsk.

— Imagine, I traveled from Chernogorsk to Abakan, from Abakan to Minusinsk. You need strong desire to drive all those roads just to dance. I really loved the Minusinsk brass band—they sang live beautifully, many songs, and changed their program every week.

But in her native Abakan, she admits, nothing is going to change, and she«s no longer ready to dance to the old program.

— Abakan—they«re far from updating their repertoire. They don»t want to at all, and the grandmas refuse to change the repertoire. I say, “Well, then I«m not old yet, because the grandmas refuse, but I don»t want to dance to that music.” I now avoid that brass band by all means, — adds Olga.

“Free yourself from all complexes”

When asked what she«d advise women her age or young people who are afraid to express themselves and fear judgment, Olga Borisovna answers simply: get rid of complexes and become freer.

— I«d say the simplest thing: be open, free in flight. That is, free yourself from all complexes. And many say, “I»ll drink a couple of shots, then I can dance.” I say, “I«ve never drunk. I only ever heard the music, and that was enough for me.”

In her observation, today«s youth have a different concept of freedom—many think it»s impossible to dance without alcohol. But she also sees opposite examples: young people who approach her, admire her, and want to set her as an example to their own mothers.

— Young people come up to me for hugs and photos. They say, “We«re thrilled; we show our mom—be like Olga Borisovna. I wish my mom were like that.” And everyone dreams of having such mothers.

Her daughter Alyona agrees: the secret isn«t age but refusing to live by the same template—routine, work, home.

— People live like this: routine, routine, work, home, work, home. We can«t live like that. We need some adventures. If you want, go to the mountains; if you want, come to mom to dance. We just want to live interestingly.

Instagram* — an extremist organization whose activities are banned in Russia

Other materials by the author:

“We work hard here”: how Krasnoyarsk coach Mirra Andreyeva raised a world tennis star and more — exclusive interview;

“People come to see me like a curiosity”: Krasnoyarsk woman traded her dream of the stage for an auto repair shop and now fixes brakes herself;

“He wouldn«t have approved”: where writer Viktor Astafyev was born and how his native village lives now.