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Photograph by Zach Beecher
Dancing Divas (from left) Betty Rossman, Pat Daniels, Betty Newson, Suzanne Regul and Suzanne Christensen tap dance in sync at the West San Jose Community and Policing Center on a Thursday afternoon.
Dancing Divas are toe-tapping to their own beat
Women reakindle a passion for dance
By Melissa Fall
Before 1 p.m. on any given Thursday at the West San Jose Community and Policing Center, everything is quiet outside the downstairs dance room.
But that's only because the Dancing Divas haven't arrived yet. As soon as they do, the first level of the building will resonate with a staccato, tapping beat as the eclectic group of retired women begin practicing their dance act.
Membership in the group fluctuates, but on July 13 there were six participants: Suzanne Christensen of Los Gatos, Pat Daniels of San Jose, Barbara McDonald of Saratoga, Betty Newson of San Jose, Suzanne Regul of San Jose and Betty Rossman of San Jose. They're all dancing and they're all divas--in the most delightful sense of the word.
The Thursday sessions from 1 to 3 p.m. at the community center are independent practices for the group's advanced tap dancing class, which meets on Mondays at the Saratoga School of Dance. Anyone can sign up for a class at the Saratoga School of Dance, but the Dancing Divas have already reached a certain advanced level of tap that might not be appropriate for a novice.
Interested dancers should evaluate all of the available class options and discuss their choices with an instructor.
Dancing Divas instructor Barbara Tony started the group as a class through the Camden Lifetime Activity Center in 1998. In Saratoga, Tony now teaches many different classes at various skill levels, and her students range from their late 50s to 84 years old.
"I never say, 'Don't kick too high, don't go too fast because you might fall,'" Tony says, discussing her teaching methods, "because then you're planting that seed in the head, the 'you can't.' "
The women in Tony's classes regularly perform intricate steps in the school's dance recitals, and they perform them with flair.
"They're fun," Tony says of her students, "and they work really hard."
The hard work of the Dancing Divas isn't limited to the school's recitals. They regularly dance at charitable events.
They're planning to perform in September at a fundraiser for Brandeis University at The Villages in San Jose, helping others while helping themselves.
"Tapping is a great form of aerobic exercise," says Regul, a retired physician, and a Dancing Divas member.
But there's more behind their dancing than a workout's physical benefits. For Regul, an avid dancer who went to the same grade school as Gene Kelly, "Dancing dispels being depressed and feeling lost after retirement," she says.
Rhonda Vargas is a gerontology specialist at the Cypress Senior Center located at 403 S. Cypress Ave. in West San Jose. She agrees that the years immediately after retirement can be tricky ones for busy people. They suddenly find themselves with free time where there used to be a commute and hours at their place of employment.
Staying active and engaged is an important part of combating the mental stresses of this transitional period.
Tap dancing, however, is more than a hobby for the Dancing Divas; it's a rekindling of an old passion.
Newson began tap dancing at age 5 and picked it up again after 55 years Daniels started tapping at 3. Tony, their instructor, was an acrobat in a three-generation act that also included her father and her grandfather.
It is, perhaps, this familiarity with the performance arts that makes dance classes the perfect fit for an older adult looking to stay active after leaving the workforce.
Vargas says the weekly dance classes are some of the most popular the center offers. Besides the dance programs, the center offers a wide variety of options, available to any interested participants at a per activity cost or free with a $10 yearly membership.
Though all of the programs are well attended, it's the dance programs that seem to attract the highest number of first-time center visitors. The reason for the success of these dance programs, according to recreation supervisor Katie Crowder, is because dancing is "so familiar."
"It brings us back to our youth, to our middle adult years, to our older adult years," Crowder says.
Dance is a tie that binds together various phases of a lifetime and the Dancing Divas. They come from a diverse mix of backgrounds, hometowns and life paths. Before her retirement, Daniels, a mother of 10, helped her husband with his law practice.
Christensen was an English professor, McDonald a school teacher and Newson a secretary. But these individuals of varied experiences are unified through tap and though the women enjoy the dancing itself, they enjoy each other's company just as much.
"The best part of the dance class," according to Regul, "is the wonderful group of ladies who like to do it with you."
With this foundation of teamwork and companionship forming the basis of the group, why are the ladies called, "divas," a word that evokes dressing room drama in an era of demanding starlets?
Daniels says jokingly, "Maybe we're called the Dancing Divas because we act like divas."
Still, the root of their group's name is unclear. None of the women at the rehearsal is quite sure of their moniker's origin, so it falls to Tony to explain the etymology of the group's name.
"I think it sounded good," Tony says, "The 'divas' with the 'dancing.'"
The playful alliteration and the four syllables does give the group's name its own lively beat--a beat almost as lively as the tapping coming from the community center's downstairs practice room every Thursday afternoon.
For more information about classes at the Saratoga School of Dance, call 408.866.4691 or visit www.saratogaschoolofdance.com. To learn more about the Cypress Senior Center, call 408.244.1353.
