Toes of Steel
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on September 11, 2017 6:33 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Kaitlyn Lewis teaches a new dance to members of the Toes of Steel dance group.
Prema Sriraman broke her back 10 years ago, and doctors said she would never walk again.
Today, not only is she walking, but she's also taking tap dancing lessons, and is a member of Goldsboro's Toes of Steel.
The group has an elite membership of those 50 and older, and has been sponsored by Goldsboro Parks and Recreation Department for about six years now. And the best part -- it's free to participants.
Stasia Fields, recreation superintendent, said the class meets once a week and is mainly for fun. But Toes of Steel does perform in the Silver Follies each year and at other events throughout the year. The dancers even have special costumes that they wear when performing.
Kaitlyn Lewis, dance instructor at A Step of Class, where the group meets, teaches the group.
"During the summer, we do combinations and just have a good time," she said. "We like to have our new members come meet us in the summer.
"In the fall, we start a routine that we do in the senior games. We work really hard for almost a whole year on that routine."
But it's much more than just a dance class.
The members love to get together to socialize.
"We get close," Kaitlyn said. "We care about each other. We pray for each other. We really do love each other."
And it doesn't end with the class.
You can hear them making plans with each other outside of class.
"I think of them not so much as tappers, but how kind they are and our Christmas parties together," Kaitlyn said. "Those are the moments that stick with me."
And she loves being the one to teach them a new skill -- tap dancing.
She likens it to teaching young children.
"They always joke about the fact that they are just like the little kids," Kaitlyn said. "The love the repetition. They love to go slow with class. And they have a good time."
She said the tap dancers like to be challenged in class.
The most fun part for Kaitlyn is teaching them a new step.
"They are a hoot when they learn a new step," she said. "The reaction they have is so silly sometimes. They'll look at me like I'm crazy and say, 'We can't do that.' And then in three weeks, they've mastered it. It's so much fun to see them do something that they think they can't do. That is my favorite thing."
But it can get challenging for Kaitlyn sometimes. And those times come when it's time to reign them back in from a water break.
"When we have a water break, they want to take a water break for a long time sometimes," she said. "Ms. Maria is like, 'Water break now, water break now' and we've been dancing for just five minutes. She's the oldest in the class at 80, and she's awesome."
The dancers like to have fun, but also know when it's time to get serious.
Last year, they did a dance where they not only were tapping, but had to play a character.
"They go so into it," Kaitlyn said. "They came in and told me they had practiced their faces and what faces they had made that matched the song. You could definitely tell that they were into it and that they put their heart into it."
Kaitlyn said the tappers are getting a lot more out of the group than just dancing. They're learning rhythm and balance. They're getting physical exercise and they're getting mental exercise, too.
Mattie Suggs knows that for sure, having been a member of Toes of Steel for four years.
"It's exercise dancing," she said. "And it's mental exercise trying to keep the routines together."
The 72-year-old has wanted to learn to tap dance ever since she was a little girl, but never had the opportunity until Parks and Rec started the class.
"It's fun, but challenging, just learning the routines and doing the performances," Mattie said. "It makes me feel good. I exercise a lot and I feel that this is part of my exercise routine."
She said just because a person is older, that's no reason not to try something new, like tap dancing.
Prema, 77, knows how important it is to keep physically active. She remembers slowly making herself walk again after she broke her back. Then she incorporated exercise. Now she does line dancing, Zumba and tap dancing.
"Six months after my surgery, I started exercising," she said. "I said, 'No, I'm not going to be in a wheelchair.' Now I feel really, really good and healthy."
She began tap dancing with Toes of Steel because her friend, Janie, was going alone and wanted somebody to go with her.
"I said, 'I have a broken back. With the shoes, I may slip and fall, but I'll give it a try,'" Prema told her friend.
She was hooked after the first class.
She said anybody can do it -- and anything -- as long as he or she prepares himself mentally.
"Physically is only 20 percent," Prema said. "Mentally, it's 80 percent, according to research done at Duke University."
Janie Ellis, 68, was scared when she first started the tap class.
"Everybody else had been here two, five, six years," she said. "One of the ladies has even taught dance her whole life. I was up against that."
She found out she loved tap dancing. Now she practices at home in her kitchen in her socks.
"We do 'Hit the Road, Jack' and my husband, bless his heart, when he hears the first few notes, he'll say, 'Oh, there she goes again,'" Janie said. "But he loves it."
She said Kaitlyn doesn't make the group's member feel old.
"At 68, you just have to say, 'It's fun, I'm enjoying it and if I'm not great at it, that's OK, I'm just having a good time,'" Janie said.
Kaitlyn said the dancers hold a special place in her heart.
"They inspire me," she said. "Some of them just started tap. They are over 50 years old and they try something new out of the blue. That's awesome because so many people think they are too old for this. People my age, 23, think they missed their chance to dance. No you didn't.
"What sticks with me is their courage and just how kind they are. And they set examples for me in life that I need to follow."