“We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”

Those are not just words imprinted on 86-year-old Anna Wareing’s sweat shirt. She believes playing the piano is what has kept her alive long after many of her friends have gone either to nursing homes, their graves or both.

This weekend, Wareing will return to a job she began more than 40 years ago. The octogenarian will accompany tap dancers at the Thomas School of Dance’s annual recital at Peakes Auditorium at Bangor High School. Wareing started playing for dance classes during the early 1950s in exchange for lessons for her 8-year-old daughter. About five years ago, she had to give that up because of problems she was having walking, not because of aging fingers.

In fact, Wareing, who lives in Old Town, rattles off stories at such a staccato pace, she leaves people half her age languishing behind, stuck in adagio. She began playing the piano by ear when she was 4. Her parents made sure she took lessons so she also could read music. Soon, she was playing at church, the Grange hall and in school bands.

As a teen-ager, Wareing provided an impromptu score for the silent movies in her hometown of Jonesboro. She went to college and became a grade school teacher. She taught in the Brewer and Old Town school districts, but continued to play with bands at school dances, as well as the Roseland Ballroom on Central Street. In the early 1950s, she became associated with the dance school, named for its founder, Polly Thomas, who opened the school while still in her teens.

“Before I came along, teachers at the school often taught with no music. They would count out the time,” recalls Wareing. “I was a grammar school teacher, so I only played on Saturdays. But, when I retired from teaching in 1976, I played every day but Fridays and Sundays. I just kept right on playing when Jane [Bragg] bought the school 16 years ago.”

Bragg says that once the themes for this year’s performances were decided, she asked Wareing to play “Give My Regards to Broadway” for the high school-aged tap dancers. That number will open both shows, titled “Everything Old Is New Again” and “Past Meets Present.” For many years, Wareing says, the Thomas School started off every annual recital with that number.

Elizabeth Hatch, 15, of Old Town has been dancing for almost eight years. She, along with 10 other young women, will tap across the stage while Wareing plays. Hatch says she prefers live music to the CDs and tapes used by the majority of her teachers.

“When she [Wareing] plays, she always tries to stay with you, no matter how fast or slow you are dancing,” observes Hatch. “With a tape or CD, you’re always trying to keep up with it. She makes a dancer look better.”

Wareing recognizes that musical tastes, especially those of young people, have changed dramatically during her lifetime. “I would no longer make people happy if I played for all the classes,” she says. “They like it loud, with a big beat. They are polite when I come in to play for them occasionally.”

Young students who gather round Wareing for a photograph disagree.

“I like the live piano more than recorded music,” claims 13-year-old Jessica Morgan of Bangor. “You have to listen to the music harder to make sure you get the right beat.”

Over the years, Wareing has performed with many different bands playing jazz, swing, popular as well as traditional hymns. Later this month, she will play for the Y-Players’ annual musical spoof at the YWCA of Bangor-Brewer. She says she prefers improvisational playing like she did for the movies 70 years ago to sticking to the notes printed in a score.

“I’m so very thankful I’ve been able to continue to play all these years,” she says. “I don’t think I’d be almost 87 if I didn’t have music in my life. I know that losing myself in something I love so much has kept me alive. That, and being able to spend so much time with young people, is what keeps me going.”

“Everything Old is New Again” will be performed at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 15. “Past Meets Present” will be performed at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 16. For ticket information, call 945-3457.