Boogie on Tap: big song and dance performance
Boogie on Tap has three performances this weekend. Photo: Ina Holst.
This weekend’s dance and song performance at the Playhouse promises to be a heart-warming affair and the enthusiasm and joy that radiates from the performers is truly contagious. Organiser Debbie Neale simply sweeps people along with unfaltering energy and has come up with a tight and varied programme.
Debbie has established and run tap-dancing groups in the Bay for many years. Then two years ago she decided to concentrate on forming a mature group.
“It’s a giggle and a half; we have 10 women in our group and the average age is 53,” says Debbie. “Some of us have been dancing 15 years, some only three years, and we all have mixed abilities and come from different backgrounds.”
Last year, the group was hand-picked at the International Dance Day for a performance in Blenheim’s Marlborough Civic Theatre, and has just been invited to perform again this year.
“It’s a bit like in the film ITALYoung at Heart, only that we’re quite a bit younger,” muses Debbie. “But it is quite an achievement. Some of us have never danced on stage before and it is incredibly brave to perform in front of an audience. We had one woman who was beside herself with nerves, and at the end of the night we could not get her off the stage. This is incredibly good for your self-esteem, and tap-dancing is a wonderful form of exercise, good for our middle-aged bodies and our minds.
“This older adult group is a closed group, but if you want to learn tap dance contact Anita Hutchinson.”
Guest performers include the Golden Bay Ukelele Group; Melissa Wells, who performs a piece on the violin; and Cathryn Sangster, Martine Bouillir and Jochen Maurer, who will be singing and dancing together.
Dancers from the local tango and salsa classes will show off their legs, too. Reto and Vera Balzer will perform a sensuous Argentine tango, and the salsa groups will swirl around the stage for an energetic rueda, a Cuban circle dance based on salsa moves.
Other guests include a tap-dancing group of young men and women from Golden Bay High School and Debbie’s daughter Hannah Kaye, who will perform a tap dance with Jacinda Foskett.
“It’s a three-generation concert with my dad, who is 82 compèring the performance. He’ll love it—he can’t wait. We have circus blood in our family and he has always been interested in song, dance and theatre,” Debbie added.
Enjoy one-and-a-half hours of Boogie on Tap on Friday 16 April, 7:30pm, or Saturday 17 April, 2pm and 7:30pm at The Playhouse. Tickets are $8 and available from Brief Affair in Takaka; door sales if available. Preschoolers on the knee are free.
Ina Holst
