Taps ’n Tune’s spry dancers take audiences down memory lane

As the music begins, eight poised, costumed dancers — four on each side — prance from opposite ends of a small stage in syncopated time.

Dressed in black trousers, white tuxedo shirts and bow ties, these spry senior ladies spin and shuffle ball change their way through a carefully choreographed number, their tap shoes adding a contagiously happy beat.

Several audience members are singing along to a tune they haven’t heard in years.

“I feel the room swayin’ while the band’s playin’ one of your old favorite songs from way back when ...”

When the title number from Hello Dolly ends, the audience members respond with enthusiastic applause.

November is a big month for Taps ’n Tunes, a Tarrant County organization dedicated to the preservation of musical comedy and vaudeville-style entertainment. A nonprofit charity, Taps ’n Tunes puts on its biggest show of the year this month — a Veterans Day USO show at the Hurst Conference Center. November also marks the group’s 30th anniversary.

Dancing for a Cause

Currently, the TNT performance roster includes about two dozen tap dancers and five vocalists — mostly women in their 50s, 60s and 70s. The dancers call themselves the Dancing Dames, and over the course of each year, they perform about 20 shows, mostly in small venues like senior residential communities.

The size of the venue dictates the number of dancers who perform. In a recent and typical performance, 10 performers took to the stage for the Senior Network at The Hills Church in North Richland Hills, dancing and singing their way through a medley of old hits ranging from Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy to Rock Around the Clock. Each dance number involved a different costume, from royal-blue sailor tops with short skirts to a dad’s white button down and saddle shoes.

Even a 30-minute show for a handful of older adults features bright smiles and polished performances. The Dancing Dames will change costumes in under two minutes while bumping elbows in a broom closet and never miss a beat on stage.

“I like being able to take what I love and share that with others,” says Cecelia Van Donselaar, a 68-year-old dancer from Fort Worth. “We bring some happiness.”

In 2008, the United Way of Tarrant County listed Taps ’n Tunes as an organization that reaches out to seniors and fights isolationism, and as part of a 2015 Neighborhood Arts Program (NAP) grant from the Fort Worth Arts Council, the group scheduled eight NAP performances this year for senior audiences.

Taps ’n Tunes artistic director Annette Marsh says some people don’t understand the group’s emphasis on performing for seniors. “Once you go out and see what happens,” she explains, “we get so much back. We do happy songs or romantic songs, and they really relate to the music.

“I’m convinced that seniors need art. We have more and more seniors, and they don’t need to be shelved in corners.”

Broadway Roots

The dance troupe got its start in November 1985 with a Christmas-themed show at the old Pate Museum south of Fort Worth. The group was called Tex’s Tip Top Tappers and was formed by Clyde “Tex” Eddleman, a legendary dancer featured in the first national touring company of Oklahoma.

Marsh was Eddleman’s dance partner in those early years, and the group performed across Texas. In 1993, the tappers joined with singers from Mid City Sound Chorus for a production called “Taps ’n Tunes.”

After Eddleman retired in 1995, the group formed “Taps ’n Tunes Productions” under Marsh’s artistic direction to feature tap dancing and songs from the 1920s to 1950s.

“Once you get past the ’50s, the music is not as good to tap to,” Marsh says. “We focus on the Broadway show-type of music. We wanted to preserve that and keep it alive.”

Not long after Marsh began to direct the group, she met Larry Howard, a Broadway veteran who, along with his partner Ed Holleman, worked with shows at Casa Mañana and taught Fort Worth native Betty Buckley. Howard and Holleman assisted with Taps ’n Tunes’ choreography and staging.

Through the years, it’s become clear to various dancers that the bonds forged within the ranks of the sisterhood of the fishnet tights are as important as their shared passion for dancing and performing. Many members have been with the troupe for more than a decade.

Patti Bertwell, 65, a vivacious blonde from North Richland Hills, explains: “It’s just been the best therapy. We go through so many things with our children and parents. Being able to tap and meet the nicest women is therapy.”

Marsh adds that the cardio workout and memorizing routines help keep bodies and minds active. At 72, she still nails the double-time step in her solo numbers. “Tap is one dance form you can do when you’re older,” she says.

Martie Koons, 63, from far north Fort Worth says she was taking an adult tap class when she heard about the group.

“I just liked tap, the rhythm and the sounds,” Koons says.

Now she’s been with the group for 14 years.

This story was originally published October 27, 2015 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Taps ’n Tune’s spry dancers take audiences down memory lane."