Tap Dance Lessons

A couple weeks ago, Paul and I were in the car and he pulled up the song Good Morning from Singing in the Rain. He liked the song but never saw the movie, so I made him watch the clip on Youtube.

"I wish I could tap dance," I said.

"Me too," he replied.

And then I said, "Well why don't we!?"

At age 34, it had just dawned on me that if I wanted to take tap dance lessons, I could!

I wasn't sure if there would be any adult classes in the area but I found several different places to choose from. I ended up going with Vicki's Tap Pups in Lemoyne. One day I called, and 3 hours later, I found myself in a New Beginner class, trying to quickly catch up on what the students had learned the past couple weeks.

I was very nervous to go to my first class. What do I wear? Do I have the right shoes? Will the other students be nice to me? Will the instructor be annoyed that I am new and don't know the routine?

When class began, I parked myself in the back row. The first thing we did was a little warm up song, which reminded me of warming up before Zumba... a little bit of movement and a little bit of stretching. I realized I am definitely set in my ways because I was annoyed we were stretching BEFORE dancing. I like to stretch AFTER I work out. It's moments like these when I realize how I really like doing things my own way. However, I know it's good to be okay with "letting go". So I tried to let go during the 3 minute warm up!

Then we did some warm up tap exercises, which I don't know how to describe to you because I don't know all the lingo. There were lots of shuffles, ball changes, and slaps.

Then it was time to rehearse the recital dance. All of the students learned the routine already so my only option was to just try to catch on. I was really nervous...

Some parts of the routine were easier than others. I wasn't completely lost because it did follow some patterns. For example, if there was an 8 count combination starting to the right, I could kind of flub through, but when we would turn and do it to the left, I could sometimes do it. When the routine was over, I didn't feel like an idiot, and I could tell that I would eventually be able to do the routine if I practiced it on my own. Luckily, a woman in the class emailed me the steps so I was able to practice and do the routine by memory by the time I went to my next class.

Since my first class, I have been back two more times. We started working on a new routine. Both routines are going to be done at the annual recital on June 4th. I watched some videos on Youtube from past recitals and I REALLY WANT TO BE IN THE ADVANCED CLASS!!! I'm not ready for the advanced class yet, but I really want to get into that class someday. I guess I have to keep practicing. Maybe if I find some practice videos I can teach myself some stuff and learn more quickly...

I really like the instructors at this studio and I also really like Vicki. Sometimes her little doggy is at the studio and she runs around in between classes. She is black but her back paws are white so it looks like she is wearing tap shoes!

This is a funny video from almost two years ago. I decided to record myself doing a time step. It's not perfect and missed some sounds, but I tried!

Have you ever taken dance lessons?
What kind of dancing are you best at?