The pitter patter of not so little feet

MARION — Rhythmic tapping echoed around the First Congregational Community Center on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 19 as dance students ran through a routine they had slowly been building on for weeks.

“We work on one routine for two or three weeks [and] just add onto it, depending on how much time we have,” said Ann-Marie Foley of Onset.

On Tuesday evenings, tap dancers come together for TapFit, a dance program designed for adults of all skill levels that runs through the Marion Art Center.

“I’ve always said that dance is for everyone,” said instructor Teah Keogh. “We don’t have a recital, we don’t have costumes, there’s no big performance, so it’s really just to go and have a good time and exercise your body.”

Keogh started TapFit as a way for adults to exercise without a traditional workout.

She noted that she found exercise to be “kind of boring,” but in the tap class time passes quickly.

“I’m out of breath, breaking a sweat, but I don’t even know that I’m doing it for an hour because I’m so concentrating on tapping, which is fun” she said.

She said that not only are you working out, but you’re also “making music with your feet.”

Freddie Popit of Marion said the class is “perfect” if traditional workouts aren’t one’s forte.

Foley agreed, noting “It’s like working out without working out.”

She said there are people of all ages in the class, ranging between the ages of 20 and 80, as well as a variety of tap experience.

“I have people who have come and have danced through adulthood. I have people who danced when they were kids, and then I have people who come and have never tapped a day in their entire life,” Keogh said.

And while there is a variety of skill levels between students, Foley, who entered the class without any tap dancing experience, said she doesn’t find it intimidating.

“I feel like it’s any level,” she said. “Anybody can just drop in.”

Keogh called the class its “own little club that we do every Tuesday.”

“We have created this group of people that love doing it,” she said.

Both Foley and Popit said they enrolled in the fall TapFit course, which began on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

“Teah is a great teacher. She’s very dynamic and fun and artistic too,” Popit said. “It’s all good [and] a fun group of people.”

Foley, who works from home, said “it’s really nice” to be able to attend the weekly class.

“I literally sit in the chair all day, so for me it’s really nice to come here and just jump around like a little kid,” she said.