Video: Tap Dance Pros Click Up Their Heels at Tribeca Senior Center

From left, Tamangoh Van Cayseele Stanislas, Jane Goldberg, Karen Callaway Williams and Conner Kelly entertain at Tribeca's Older Adults Center in Independence Plaza. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Members of Tribeca’s Older Adults Center in Independence Plaza got a special after-lunch treat earlier this month when three world-class “hoofers” put the intricate footwork and complex rhythms of their art on display.

The show arrived courtesy of Jane Goldberg [1], 78, a member of the center and longtime Independence Plaza resident whose Traveling Tap Museum [2] brings the artists to senior centers and arts institutions around the city. Because tap is commonly viewed as antiquated entertainment, Goldberg says her mission is to change that. “People don’t get very much exposure to it at all,” she noted. 

Sponsored by her non-profit, Changing Times Dance Company [3], the shows also provide the artists with paid opportunities to perform. 

These dancers illustrated just how varied tap styles can be, from Conner Kelly [4]’s athleticism to the smoothly rhythmic tapping of Karen Callaway Williams [5] to the drum accompanied dancing of French Guyana-native Tamangoh VanCayseele Stanislas [6].

“These people are so talented, it really makes me feel good,” said senior center regular Doris Denigard.

Goldberg, an institution in the world of tap, is both a dancer and historian of the art, having studied with tap veterans, and befriended and produced shows with them in their later years. Those experiences are chronicled in her book “Shoot Me While I’m Happy.” [7]

Former tap teacher Janice Zwail, who attended the show, said that when Goldberg calls on tap greats to perform, “they run, because it’s to honor her.”

“Jane is great,” said Goldberg’s longtime neighbor Gloria Valentino, 80. “She’s just a couple of years younger than me, but she seems like 20 years younger than me.”

“The good thing about tap,” Goldberg noted, “you don’t have to be young to do it.”