(upbeat dance music) ♪ Hit it ♪ ♪ Na na na na na ♪ ♪ Na na na na na na na na na na ♪ - [Reporter] He's the hippest guy in Terre Haute, Indiana.

- Oh, definitely, definitely.

You say Disco Ernie, and everybody knows who you're talking about.

- [Reporter] He's hip when some people his age are considering hip replacement.

- I think he's a treasure.

I mean, I just hope that when I'm that age, I'm still around at that age, actually, and he's out there dancing away, and having the best time of anybody.

- [Reporter] At 81 years of age, he's known simply as Disco Ernie.

- Disco Ernie has just entered the building.

♪ Fat lady sing ♪ ♪ Act like you know, Rico ♪ ♪ I know what Bo don't know ♪ - Yeah, the guys and the girls both, they said, "I hope I can do that.

Hope I can do that when I'm your age."

You know?

♪ Lyrical gangster, murderer ♪ - My son said, "I'll be glad when I get 81, 'cause you've got all the girls."

(laughs) (people kissing) (tape clicks) (gentle music) - [Reporter] Long before any disco craze, Ernie Nasser was a Terre Haute grocer by trade, and a dance instructor on the side.

- I taught at Arthur Murray for a while.

I taught ballroom dancing like cha-cha, tango, rumba, samba, you know.

♪ Somewhere, my love ♪ - Most of the time I would just danced around at home, you know, we'd have company in, and I would dance.

♪ Snow, covers ♪ - I do soft shoe dancing.

I just washed my kitchen.

(laughs) - [Reporter] Ernie doesn't just like to dance.

He likes to dance all the time.

- I don't like to slow dance.

- [Reporter] Ernie can't sit still.

- It was a 10K run, and I was 60 years old.

I came in first.

That's my first place trophy.

- [Reporter] In addition to being a prolific dancer, Ernie is an accomplished long distance runner.

- Well, I always ran some anyway.

Always ran because I wanted to keep myself in good shape, you know.

- You've always been an active person.

- Yeah, all the time.

I'm not a person that can sit back and sit down.

I don't sit down and read books.

A lot of people just sit back and read a book.

I can't read a book.

- Yeah.

Who wants to read books these days?

- Yeah.

- When you can be out dancing.

- Yeah, now you got it.

(tape clicks) (upbeat dance music) - [Reporter] Like most of us, Ernie's life hasn't always been something to dance about.

He lost his first wife to leukemia, and he's long since divorced from his second.

But as he danced up into old age, Ernie promised himself that he wasn't going to stay in the house all day.

A double hernia operation hasn't stopped him either.

And he still has a pin in his leg from the time when he fell out of a tree.

Have we mentioned that Ernie just loves to dance?

♪ Shake that body ♪ - But because my brothers and I have seen him since we were infants, we just thought it was a normal part of his life.

- [Reporter] Ernie's children, Marsha Nasser and her brothers, still live in Terre Haute, where they own a shoe store.

- And we just think it's great.

My brothers and I, we kind of sit and shake our heads sometimes, because (laughs) we're not quite as liberal as he is, but that's okay.

We just say, "Go for it, Dad."

♪ There's nothing to it ♪ ♪ You gotta do it ♪ - [Marsha] And all the customers know him.

People love to see him.

He makes people smile.

♪ Don't you know, don't you know ♪ - [Reporter] Do you ever dance with your dad?

- I do.

I love to dance.

- And you dance with your dad?

- Yes.

Oh yes.

♪ Many different flavors ♪ ♪ And the spice is strong ♪ ♪ Get into the hot stuff ♪ ♪ Let me pour a little some ♪ - [Reporter] Ernie says he never leaves the house without his trademark headband, but not that he needs an identifier.

What other 81-year-old man would be found dancing on the streets of Terre Haute?

♪ You gotta move it ♪ - [Reporter] Disco Ernie has been a local celebrity for quite some time.

(upbeat dance music continues) ♪ Shake that body for me ♪ ♪ Hit it ♪ ♪ Na na na na na ♪ ♪ Na na na na na na na na na na ♪ ♪ Na na na na ♪ ♪ Strongest ♪ ♪ Na na na na na na na na na na ♪ - [Reporter] And well into his twilight years, Ernie enjoys quite a night life.

Do you think disco's dead?

- No.

Not when you see Ernie.

♪ Murderer ♪ ♪ Big up the crew in-a the area ♪ - A lot of guys can't dance.

They go mostly to drink.

See?

Yeah, I don't drink, so I spend my time dancing.

♪ Multiply ♪ ♪ Anyone press will hear the fat lady ♪ - [Reporter] Do you think you'll ever stop dancing?

- No, not long as I'm able to move.

(upbeat reggae hip-hop music) I'm 81.

I'd like to dance for another 10 years, maybe 91.

(laughs) - [Reporter] What do you want your gravestone to read?

- Well, maybe they ought to have "Here lies Disco Ernie, the dancer, runner, entertainer of the world."

Something like that, I think.

♪ Somewhere, my love, there will be songs to sing ♪ ♪ Although the snow ♪ - We taped Ernie at that nightclub during the day, but we hear that come evening, he's the first one out on the dance floor, where he is soon surrounded by a flock of women, and he's often the last to leave, staying on that floor until one or two in the morning.

Oh, just in case you didn't get enough of Ernie, guess what?

He also hires himself out as a male stripper.

And we're not making that up.

(cheerful bluegrass music) - [Announcer] For more "Across Indiana" stories, go to wfyi.org/AcrossIndiana.