Harlem’s over-55s synchronised swimming team thinks ageing is better in the pool

‘I never was a dancer, but I can dance in the water.’

Putting the maxim ‘it’s never too late to learn’ into eloquent practice, the Honeys and Bears is a synchronised swimming team made up exclusively of people over the age of 55 – some of whom never swam until their 60s. Soothing and charming in a way that suits its subject, the US director Veena Rao’s short film hangs out with the Honeys and Bears in the New York City neighbourhood of Harlem as they reflect on the freedom that moving in the water gives them as they grow older.