NICOLE APONTE: Syracuse, New York, like most cities, can be a bit noisy. But on Tuesday nights.
BARRY SHULMAN: “5, 6 7, and.”
NICOLE: The inside can be as loud as the outside.
ANGELA SATURNO: It is something that energizes you, it’s something that, I think it’s my therapy.”
NICOLE: Angela Saturno is one of seven women, who show up at the Jewish Community Center, to tap.
LISA BANLAKIFRANK: “Tap is my life. But it’s just tap. So you have to stay relaxed about it.”
DIXIE BLACKLEY:”Other dancers are wonderful and support and help each other.”
ANGELA: “Once I found Barry, and his rhythms are amazing. I just don’t want to stop tapping.”
BARRY: “Now watch me.”
NICOLE: For these women, Barry Shulman is the heartbeat of this class. In his day job, he’s a lawyer, but at night he’s teaching tap.
BARRY: “Shuffle, brush step.”
NICOLE: All at the age of 83.
BARRY: “I think tap has been wonderful to me, and I’ve been pretty good to it.”
NICOLE: Barry and his students get lost in the music for just one hour every week. That one hour has kept Barry on his toes – he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 2 years ago.
BARRY: “I may not appear a fighter but I’m a fighter. I am going to do whatever I can do with whatever conditions, I’m going to deal with them on my terms.”
NICOLE: Tapping is like eating breakfast for Barry and his students, it’s part of their routine. But above all else this class has served as an outlet for people that have gone through difficult times in their lives, and that’s been clear to someone who’s been watching from a distance.”
DEBBIE SHULMAN: “What I love standing by the door, and I would hear the women come out and saying to each to each other things like ‘This is way better than therapy’, or you know, ‘This is the first time I’ve come out since my husband died but it was worth it.’
NICOLE: Barry’s wife, Debbie, has watched him and the girls in action for over a decade. She’s a witness to what this class can really do for people.
DEBBIE: “They were building a family and healing themselves by performing.”
NICOLE: These tiny moments stuck with Debbie, eventually inspiring her to lace up her very own tap shoes for her and Barry’s 50th wedding anniversary.
DEBBIE: “And all of our kids took out their cameras to take pictures of what was happening. And after the first one they said do it again. And our 3-year-old grandson got up and did it with us.”
NICOLE: And if you’re wondering, no, Debbie has yet to dance in the classroom. And Barry, as humble as can be, taking barely any credit for the work he’s done.
BARRY: “But I’m not falsely proud about it. I’m very proud of how hard some of them work and how much joy they get from it.”
BARRY: “Slam, brush, hop, shuffle-step.”
NICOLE: His teaching has allowed these seven women to take away lessons from each other much bigger than a tapping their toes.
LISA: “If you let go and relax you will be amazed at what you can learn and what you’re able to do. When you don’t know that you have that ability.”
NICOLE: “So I put on my tap shoes, and boy, did I try my best. But when you tap with this group, you feel the warm embrace of friendship just by standing next to people you just met.”
ANGELA: “I wouldn’t have thought it would mean so much to me, you know. And it does.”
NICOLE: And they always have room for one more, because why wouldn’t they? As long as you got a song in your heart and just a bit of rhythm. Until I put on my tap shoes again. In Syracuse, New York, Nicole Aponte, NCC News.
