TOLEDO MAGAZINE

Hit the dance floor

Adults are tapping into fun, fitness

Dancers perform a scuff step during adult tap lessons at Off Broadway Dance Company at Common Space in Toledo.

The Blade/Lori King
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Dancers perform a scuff step during adult tap lessons at Off Broadway Dance Company at Common Space in Toledo.

Dancers, including Ann Smith, left, use hats during a swing dance during adult tap lessons.

If you want to learn to dance, there’s more to consider than ballet and ballroom, the waltz, zumba, belly, line, and hustle.

Do you remember tap dancing? Surely the phrase evokes images of the swiftly moving tap, tap, tapping feet and the engaging dances of Sammy Davis, Jr., and Savion Glover, Eleanor Powell, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and Gregory Hines.

And there is that other tap-dancing duo who mesmerized viewers during the early days of television: the dashing Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and his little darling partner, Shirley Temple, for those of you old enough to remember the curly haired, dimple-faced child star who charmed her way into hearts.

PHOTO GALLERY: Hit the dance floor

But tap dancing remains a contemporary interest that encompasses all ages. Among the area places that offer tap are the Off Broadway Dance Co. on North Reynolds Road and at Dance FX Academy on West Bancroft Street. Then there are the senior citizen tap dancers at the Frenchtown Senior Center in Monroe.

Indeed, while many adults learned to tap as children, plenty of others never got to take lessons. But they do now because they can, and they enjoy tapping through their days whenever they want.

Learning to tap is a way to have fun, get some exercise, and socialize. For some, performing is key, while others tap just for plain old fun.

Contact Rose Russell at: rrussell@theblade.com or 419-724-6178.