Siouxland senior dancers bound into high-energy routines

"You have to think like a cat and you have to move like a cat," the Hinton, Iowa, woman said as she taught steps to a group of tap dancers at the Siouxland Center for Active Generations. 

"Barb is so good at moving like a cat," Sharon Georgeson said in admiration as the song "Alley Cat" played in the background. "My dogs at home would be very confused."

McKenney was the instructor and team leader for a weekly class taught at the 313 Cook St. center.

"We call ourselves the Center Stage Tappers," McKenney said with a laugh. "We used to call ourselves the Happy Hoofers but changed it for obvious reasons."

A dancer since childhood, the 70-something McKenney has been teaching the Tuesday dance class for years.

"My mom got me into dancing as a little girl," she explained. "Then, it was for fun. Now, it is for fun and for exercise."

McKenney isn't kidding. She and her fellow tappers quickly move from routine to routine, all set to such songs as "Cab Driver," "Sugar" and, even, Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman."

"You're getting a nice physical workout but you have to remember complicated moves while dancing to the music," she noted.

That's not easy for Frances Madison, who is diligent when it comes to dance.

"When you get off, literally, on the wrong foot, people do notice," she allowed.

Perhaps because she's so focused on her feet, Madison sometimes forgets to smile.

"Everyone thinks I'm so serious when I tap," she said. "I like dancing but I do have to remind myself to smile more often."

This is especially true for the times in which the Center Stages Tappers perform at the Siouxland Center for Active Generation's Fall Follies or whenever they book a gig at a school, church or retirement community.

Like McKenney, Sharyn Volk took dance lessons as a child. However, as an adult, she seldom had the opportunity to trip the light fantastic.

"Guess my performing is limited to what I do at the center," she said with a sigh.

Always outgoing, Georgeson picked dance skills fairly quickly.

"I've always been musical," she said. "Dancing just meant adding steps to rhythm."

As the tappers practiced their show-stopping "Pretty Woman" dance, Carol Hughes couldn't help but smile.

"I would never picture myself as a tapper who would perform in public," the Hubbard, Nebraska, woman said. "That just isn't anything I ever thought about doing."

Instead, Hughes sees the Center Stage Tappers as an extension of her circle of friends.

"When I come to dance class, I'm having fun and meeting with my friends," she said.

This is also true for Madison, who is as adept at tap dancing as she is at line and ballroom dancing.

"It's easy to get hooked on dancing," she said. "I know it's a way to stay active but it doesn't feel like exercise."

"You're simply having fun while dancing to music," Madison added.

For McKenney, creating choreography allows her to teach others what she loves to do.

"When I was small, I had curly hair just like Shirley Temple," she remembered with a smile. "Then you grow up, get married, raise a family and the things you enjoyed as a girl become just a distant memory."

"Being able to dance again makes me feel like a kid again," McKenney said.