Seniors swung, spun and did the hula to live music during their annual luau at the Bonney Lake senior center last Thursday.

This year, Northwest Blend came to the center to play an array of Hawaiian and Hawaiian-stylized music while seniors danced and ate Kahlua pork and sweet mashed potatoes.

“Seniors love getting together with friends and we provide that venue,” said senior aide Jan Smith, who helped organize the luau.

Smith said that the seniors love music events the most, and love to dance.

According to the National Institution of Health, music and long-term memory are strongly linked. Musical tunes and lyrics are associated with the prefrontal cortex, located behind the eyes. According to the National Institution of Health, this section of the brain links memory and music together, which can help Alzheimer’s or dementia patients recall memories that are associated with music.

The prefrontal cortex also helps prepare the body for physical movement like dancing, according to the National Institute of Health, and is one of the last parts of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer’s or other dementia.

On Tuesdays, Smith said they often have jam sessions, where seniors gather together at the center and play music on their own instruments for each other, inviting both the musically talented and challenged to join them.

“We encourage them to get out and be with others,” Smith said. “We have so much fun putting these things together.”

Manu Lono and Moana Kokame also came to demonstrate various Hawaiian dance styles for the seniors. Earlier in September, they performed at the Seattle Center for a very large crowd, Lono said.

Lono has been teaching dance for more than 45 years, and “was brought up in a family of hula and music,” she said.