Several years ago I taught a beginner tap dance class. It
was a small group, only three students. They weren’t beginners though; they had
repeated the class for over a decade. I was the beginner in the studio having
never taught tap. I taught yoga and acting classes for kids before, but never
tap dance and never to students fifty years older than I.
Harriet, Edith and Charlotte dressed out in leotards and
tights for each class and spent the hour mastering shuffle hop step and flap
ball change choreography to big band music. If they didn’t like the music, they
told me what to bring the next week. If my choreography was too hard, they
changed it. If they didn’t like the bar exercises I created they told me what
they were going to do instead. “We’ve been taking tap for 13 years. We don’t
get any better. Don’t want to. Don’t care,” Edith reminded me. At the age of
75, they just wanted to dance and enjoy it.
One thing I learned is that I still want to be moving and
dancing like those women when I’m their age. The hour they spent together in
class each week accelerating their heart rate while stomping out rhythms and
shuffling across the floor kept each of them younger and healthier. The link
below shows a video from CBS News that proves exercise for stay young keeps the body agile and actually slows
down the aging process. The basketball team featured in the segment reminded me
of Charlotte, Harriet and Edith. I quit teaching that class after that
semester, but I’m certain the three of those women are still dancing.
