AUBURN - Even more than 30 years since his last recordings were made, Elvis Presley still has the power to get toes tapping and bodies all shook up.

Friday afternoon, Wayne Curtis, of Tully, an Elvis impersonator and performer, brought his act to the residents of Westminster Manor.

Westminster Manor activities coordinator Linda Quill said that she heard about Curtis through a friend and colleague at the Cayuga County Nursing Home.

“She said he was excellent,” Quill said. “So I thought this might be something nice for our residents here.”

As activities coordinator, Quill said that group activities and especially music can be incredibly beneficial to the residents of Westminster Manor.

“It is a good social time,” Quill said. “It gets people out of their rooms and gets them together and talking and music still gets a lot of people up and dancing and gets their feet tapping and they'll clap and sing a long. It is just a good fun time.”

Along with numerous other activities on a weekly basis, Quill said that she tries to arrange at least one musical performance a month.

Along the way these performances have run the gamut of styles.

“We've had a little bit of everything,” Quill said. “Big Band, people playing piano, youth groups singing, we've had elderly people with singing groups come in to perform. We try to have a bit of variety.”

With residents in their 70s and 80s, Quill said that generally performances have been geared toward the music of their generation, but when she heard about Curtis' show, she thought it might well be worth a try.

“A lot of the music we've had might remind people of their youth,” Quill said. “When I told some of them that we were going to have Elvis, some were excited about it, some said they don't really like him, but remember him from their children. But either way I thought that this was something that everyone could still enjoy.”

With the full 70s Elvis regalia of the red jumpsuit with all the sparkles and sequins, Curtis ran through a large cross-section of the King's catalogue.

From early hits like “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock,” to Presley's movie hits of the '60s like “Rock-A-Hula,” to later day successes like “American Trilogy,” “Kentucky Rain” and “Suspicious Minds.”

Much like the performer Curtis has modeled his presentation on, he walked through the crowd, kneeling down to sing warm ballads like “Love Me Tender” right to the women of the audience.

“He is a good duplicate,” Virginia Irish said. “I really like the beat of the music. I enjoyed myself.”

And though many residents admit that Elvis wasn't really for them, Curtis was able to win them over, as many got up and got their feet tapping on the dance floor right along side members of the staff.

“I didn't really like him (Elvis),” George James said. “And I didn't really think I was going to like him (Curtis) when he started. But I liked him more and more as he went along. I think he really added some life to it and we could all use a little more life.”