Willow Glen resident Bernice Shoda started the group in 1985--just a year after taking her first tap dance class at the senior center. Shoda began to pick out her music and choreograph original routines for the first group of women, which stayed together for eight years. This was quite an accomplishment for Shoda, who says she did not know anything about tap dancing before taking classes at the senior center.

A new group formed in 1994 and for the past eight years has performed at many art and wine festivals, Montalvo, the Santa Clara County fair and numerous retirement homes and senior centers. This September they will perform at Willow Glen's Founder's Day event. The group practices twice a week and entertains in front of an audience approximately once a month.

Photograph by Dustin Cohen No Canes: Bernice Shoda, center, started the Chorus Line Dancers in 1985. The dancers are all members of the Willows Senior Center.

As the women rehearse for their July 17 performance at the Redwood City Veteran's Memorial Senior Center, wearing matching black leotards, shorts, tights and tap shoes, they exude energy. The 45-minute routine includes various turns, kicks, shuffles and flirtatious moves using feathery boas. Adding flair to the July 17 show are patriotic hats, cowboy hats, boots and sequined hats and belts. In the middle of the performance, the women sing along to a recording of "God Bless America" and at the end they all take a big bow and tip their hats.

"After retiring I needed a hobby that let me use my body and mind," says Yvonne Brown, a retired therapist and Willow Glen resident for 40 years. "You have to use your head to tap dance."

Although most of the women credit Shoda with teaching them all they know about dancing, some of the women had previous dance experience.

Shirley Dai, a retired secretary in the school of engineering at San José State University, learned how to tap dance in the second grade but did not tap dance again until joining this group.

Although Lill Friend taught ballroom dancing for Arthur Murray, she says Shoda "taught us everything we know about tap dancing. I always said, 'When I get older, I will take lessons again.' I tapped a little in high school and I've always loved to dance."

Since Friend and Brown joined the group after the other members had been together for a year, they say they stayed toward the back until they "got the hang of tap dancing."

The dance routine consists mostly of Broadway show tunes from the 1940s, along with some country music and music from the 1950s. Some songs in their July 17 routine came from Hello, Dolly! and A Chorus Line.

Shoda helps select the group's numerous costumes, while one member's husband serves as master of ceremonies and keeps the audience entertained by telling jokes. Another member's daughter-in-law sings during evening performances.

"The important thing about being small is that we all get along so well and there is no animosity," Shoda says. "We're all team players."