Tap Dancing

ALFRED DESIO, 74 Dancer, choreographer Dancer and choreographer Alfred Desio, a Broadway veteran who invented a form of electronically enhanced tap dancing called Tap-Tronics, died Wednesday. Mr. Desio died of complications of bladder cancer at Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife and dance collaborator, Louise Reichlin, said Friday. Mr. Desio created Tap-Tronics in the 1980s, a concept that allows tap dancers to make their own music by means of microphones in their shoes.

As a retired social worker, Clara Gordon just can't resist helping people. At Leadenhall Baptist Church in Baltimore, she teaches Sunday school, is active in church affairs, sings in the choir and reaches out to people in need. She enjoys traveling, too, and is planning a Florida trip to sing with the church choir in Daytona Beach.But maybe she helps people best by serving as an example of the importance of a lifelong devotion to fitness -- because at 82, Gordon still is faithful to her fitness routine.

Contrary to the assertion of its title, in "Cats Don't Dance" they do dance -- but so what? They're animated. The thrill of tap dancing is watching someone -- preferably human but I'd watch dogs, pigs and pigeons do it, too -- master an impossibly arcane, labor-intense and speed-dazzling set of moves with aplomb and panache.It has no point if it's drawn! It's not real. Who cares?Anyway, the movie turns out to be an ambitious but lame parody of "Singin' in the Rain," with Danny from Kokomo (that's Scott Bakula's thin voice behind the screen)

THE KIDS AT Millbrook Elementary School in Baltimore County were enthralled by the trio of heel-and-toe- clicking dancers who performed in their auditorium last week.The high-stepping terpsichoreans of Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble appeared courtesy of Young Audiences of Maryland Inc., a hard-working nonprofit that is one of the region's unsung cultural gems. Each year, Young Audiences sponsors visits by performing artists to hundreds of schools across the state, and during its 47-year history more than a million schoolchildren have benefited from its programs.

Clickety clack, shimmy sham sham, a-one and a-two, tea for two, and shuffle off to Buffalo.Classic American tap.WHAMMA-BAM-BANG STOMP-STOMP-STOMPETTY-STOMP-STOMP CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-HEY!Australian for tap.Like the steel town that they hail from, this is tap at industrial strength. From their 5 o'clock shadows to their ripped blue jeans and work boots, the Tap Dogs are distinctly a breed apart from the top-hat-white-tie-and-tails school of tap.Started just two years ago, the six-man group has been filling theaters around the world with its heavy metal tap. The group opened at the Mechanic Theatre last night, and performs through Sunday.

Tap dancing will never be the same. Tap Dogs, the six-man tap ensemble created by Australian Dein Perry, is like nothing you've ever seen. These boys are loud, brash and cheeky. This is tap with Attitude, a rousing good time.Born in a steel-mill neighborhood north of Sidney, the group still retains the blue-collar patina of its former industrial machinists and security guards. Outfitted in jeans, flannel shirts and steel-toed work boots, they are a working man's company and the amplified rhythms they stomp out are the driving rock-and-roll rhythms of today.

The long-awaited return of the Dance on the Edge Series took place Saturday night at Towson State University's Stephens Hall Theatre with dance performances more on the periphery than on the edge of modern dance.With co-performances of New York-based tap dancer, Anita Feldman, the Washington group, Tappers With Attitude and Towson faculty member Debbie Meyers, the series celebrated the world of tap dancing. Ms. Meyers, who is also the Dance on the Edge series producer and managing director, cheerily told the audience that the art of tap dancing is close to her heart (she teaches it at TSU)

Tap dancer. Actor. Singer.Gregory Hines can answer to all three titles. However, there is one more title he is particularly fond of these days."I'm a grandfather," says Hines. "He's 2 years old and I am still very excited about that."Too soon to tell if the grandson will follow in the legendary Hines family's fancy footsteps. But, just give him time.Hines will be doing it all Sunday, except for the grandfathering thing, at the Meyerhoff, where he is performing for an AIDS benefit."I'm coming to town with a six-piece band, two backup singers and I'm bringing my own tap floor so I can be heard," Hines says.

The Hawk has "walked the dog" for the last time.His "shim sham" will shake no more. And he's tapped his last sentence on "the typewriter."Baltimore's Louis Hawkins is dead at 78.The unrivaled dean of the city's small tap dancing community, "The Hawk" started hoofing in front of a Howard Street shoe store when he was 12 and ended up dancing for change in Fells Point bars.In between, the longtime resident of South Carey Street danced with the Count Basie Orchestra, won a string of amateur night contests at the fabled Apollo Theater in New York, and worked with comedians Redd Foxx and Slappy White.

The 22nd annual Towson State University Dance Company performance opened Friday night with a generous program of dances designed to showcase the diverse talents of Towson students. TSU's dance program is obviously a popular one, judging from the number of student participants who demonstrated their capabilities in modern, classical ballet, jazz and tap dancing as well as choreography.Three of 11 dances choreographed by guest artists, students and faculty members were strictly classical ballet offerings.

The Talent Machine Company didn't look far for the backbone of its new show, Camp Hawyah - The Musical: The entire artistic team consists of company veterans. Director Steve Love adapted it from a show he co-wrote with Jake Thornhill that debuted in summer 2003. Love started at age 8 with the Talent Machine, was a regular in productions through his teen years, then went on to a professional stage career in such venues as Toby's Dinner Theatre. He took on this writing and directing assignment out of devotion to the young performers who wanted to revive the Camp show.

William Baron and Wilbur Baron -- who were billed as the tap-dancing Baron Twins -- were 8-year-olds when they first glided across the Hippodrome Theatre stage performing their signature six-minute mirror dance in 1930. Now 85, and inseparable as ever, they live around the corner from each other in Pikesville. "We have our aches and pains, but we see each other and socialize as often as possible," said Wilbur, who quickly points out his twin is "10 minutes older than me." They were born in Youngstown, Ohio, the sons of a tailor who later moved his family to Baltimore.

ALFRED DESIO, 74 Dancer, choreographer Dancer and choreographer Alfred Desio, a Broadway veteran who invented a form of electronically enhanced tap dancing called Tap-Tronics, died Wednesday. Mr. Desio died of complications of bladder cancer at Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife and dance collaborator, Louise Reichlin, said Friday. Mr. Desio created Tap-Tronics in the 1980s, a concept that allows tap dancers to make their own music by means of microphones in their shoes.

Not surprisingly, Mumbles the penguin puts it the best. Tap dancing, he says, "is like singing with your body." This piece of wisdom comes straight from the beak of no less an authority than the digitally animated star of the current box office hit Happy Feet. If you go Holiday Spectacular with the BSO will be performed Dec. 15-23 at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. $25-$75. 410-783-8000 or baltimoresymphony.org.

Joey Kasura has a fondness for firefighting - and for computer technology. The 17-year-old wasn't about to let a severe learning disability or attention deficit disorder prevent him from combining those two interests, working with the Laurel Fire Department in creating a training video for probationary firefighters to explain the use of fire hoses during a blaze. "I was relieved when it was done and excited when everybody at the firehouse really liked it," said Kasura, a Howard Community College student who was honored yesterday with a Youth Award at the 12th Howard County Commission on Disabilities Awards breakfast.

Talking to David Vain can be a bit like learning another language. Words and phrases like shim-sham and shuffle off to Buffalo slip into his conversation with regularity. The terms, more quaint than cutting-edge, are used to describe the kinds of moves Vain uses in a dance form that is both quaint and cutting-edge itself: tap. Tomorrow, the 30-year-old native of the Lansdowne-Arbutus area, graduate of Baltimore School for the Arts and tap-dance teacher and performer will be joining other area tap enthusiasts in a celebration of National Tap Dance Day. The day is being marked in Baltimore for the first time, with an event organized by a local arts-advocacy group, Dance Baltimore!

In 1995, when director George C. Wolfe asked tap sensation Savion Glover about collaborating on a show, the dancer told him: "I want to bring in 'da noise, I want to bring in 'da funk." Seven years later, Glover's irrepressibly percussive feet are still tapping out the gospel of Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk. The show, which ran on Broadway for almost three years, came to the Mechanic Theatre in 1999 with Glover's choreography but without Glover himself. Now it's at the Lyric Opera House with the star reprising his original role.

ATHOLTON HIGH School sophomore Micayla Diener, 15, dreams of dancing on Broadway. Harper's Choice resident Kathy Taub, 47, thought learning to tap dance was "now or never." Both are students in the teen and adult tap-dancing class at Stonehouse in Long Reach Village Center. The class is part of Ballet with Cindee Velle, a dancing school that makes its home at Stonehouse. Classes are offered in ballet, tap and jazz dance for children and adults. On a recent Wednesday, about eight students worked up a sweat dancing in Shelly Maykuth's energetic tap class.

O'Malley center plans spring course on war and terrorism O'Malley Senior Center is offering a course, "War and Terrorism," this spring through Anne Arundel Community College. Mark Craotti, a political science instructor affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University and Anne Arundel Community College, will teach the 10-week course. Topics will include the funding of terrorism and efforts to combat terrorism. Seniors may register for the class between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Friday through March 15 at the center, 1275 Odenton Road, Odenton.

PUPILS AT WINFIELD Elementary School took a historical dancing tour during a cultural arts program, "Tops in Tap: Great American Heroes." The fancy footwork of husband-and-wife dance team Cassandra and Chris Baker kept the pupils spellbound throughout the dance program Feb. 2. With limited music, the dancers kept the musical beat going strong with tap dance steps. Presented by the National Tap Ensemble, an internationally acclaimed performing and educational organization, the program demonstrated the evolution of tap styles and tap dancing's link to contemporary music and theater.