Introducing Nancy DeFina, July’s Tapper in the Spotlight!
“That was then…….
This is NOW!”
Nancy joined the Young @ Heart Tappers in 2019 and with her extensive previous performance experience, was able to learn several of our routines and perform with us that September at the LA County Fair. That experience shows through her confidence and stage presence, but she is very thoughtful of the other dancers and never tries to “steal the show”. She is a great addition to our group and we are so happy to have her. I especially enjoy having a fellow Texan dancer and drill team captain to commiserate with. To learn more about Nancy, please read her bio below.
Howdy y’all! Like, Suellen, I’m from Texas, but I’m a far better Californian, and will have lived here 34 years next month. I started dancing at “The London School of Dance” owned by a lovely British woman in Dallas, Texas, just about as soon as I could hold my pee. Maybe 2? Or 3? My favorite memory of Ms. Gwen was when she would chassé and jeté around the room spraying Lysol over her head anytime it was necessitated by someone exiting the bathroom (which had direct entry into the studio). Her favorite song was “Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot and we warmed up to it A LOT. I always think of her when I hear it. She was a task master and a member of the Royal Academy of Dance and we were encouraged (forced?) to participate in their dance exams. I’ll never forget those records, that were just 8 bars or so, of piano music. (I was amazed that they had a REAL piano player at the examinations!) Gwen’s still at it, and would be perfect for the Young At Heart Tappers if she ever came to So Cal!
I come from a family of dancers: my mother, 21-year-older sister and her twin daughters (who are 6 months older than me!) all danced since childhood. My sister, in fact, made her career as a dance teacher specializing in programs for pre-schoolers and after-school daycare kids all over the DFW metroplex. So, along with my nieces, we grew up with a permanent, unpaid side job as costume/prop/backstage managers (and babysitter/entertainers) every year at recital time.
In middle school we moved up the (gravel) road to Plano, Texas and I joined “The Shirley Wolfe Dancers” studio (where all the cool kids in Plano went – it wasn’t like Tap & Toe across town. No way.). My mom made all the costumes for us and we formed friendships for life. We still connect on a private Facebook group to share cool dance videos and they now have formed a performance group much like ours, called “The Hot Flashes.”
In high school, I joined the Drill Team, which is much different in Texas than it is here in California. It’s a high-kick line that also dances and competes… kind of like the Radio City Rockettes. I LOVED Drill Team and was voted Captain and choreographer for 2 years. Our team was really good (if I do say so myself), winning numerous awards and trophies – which I assume are still collecting dust in a closet somewhere at the school. My junior year I joined the glee club, “Sound Invention” and also became their choreographer (which I continued for a few years after I graduated). Teaching lanky high school boys how to dance was one of the most *fun* things I’ve ever done! LOL! Actually they did great & I was very proud of them!
Also in high school, as if I needed more things to do, I decided to join a separate ballet company AND a tap company (in addition to my classes at the TSWD studio). A few times a week I drove 30-45 minutes each way to be part of the Tuzer Ballet, headed by Tanju Tuzer, a Turkish “ballerino” and former star of the Harkness Ballet and the Buster Cooper Dancers. I adored Buster and credit all my fab tap skills to him, but I did NOT adore Tanju. Or his wife. At. All. That relationship didn’t last long.
As college approached, I was accepted to Texas Christian University’s Modern Dance program, having never, ever done any modern dance. Ballet was the only other option there, but I was still sour on my experience with Tanju. Over the summer, however, I attended tryouts for the Kilgore College Rangerettes, the world’s first and still, preeminent Texas-style drill team. This is the group that would line you up after performances to check your shins for lipstick. If you had not kicked your face, then you got to sit out the next performance. I bloodied my lip a few times, but managed to never create a bloody nose, which was not uncommon. They were frustrated with me as my years of ballet training caused me to “turn out” my feet, getting lipstick on the insides of my calves. It drove them C-R-A-Z-Y. They tried REALLY hard to get me to walk & kick with my feet parallel to one another, but alas, my anatomy was having none of it. They were known for their tap routines as well, and were all-too-happy to let me choreograph/do those. Those never involved high-kicks. We got to perform for Prince Charles during his trip to the States in 1986 and at the “Carnaval du Monde” in Nice, France, where we met Sting in an elevator! 😉 Since I was so busy with drill team, dance and glee in high school, I never had a chance to take art & theater classes which mildly interested me. So once I got to Kilgore, I enrolled in them, along with more dance, music and of course, drill team. “Mild interest” is not a great reason to major in something, but in the end, I got a Bachelor of Science (go figure) in art with a minor in “interdisciplinary studies” (dance, theater, music).
In the summers, I performed in musical comedies at a community theater for course credit. That was A LOT of fun, and my last summer of school, my theater friends encouraged me to audition for the original touring company of Gower Champion’s “42nd Street,” which was coming through town and needed 2 new dancers. It was short-lived (as I had to head back to University in the Fall), but it was my one dance claim to fame & allows me to forever use, “I have worked as a professional tap dancer” as my “fast, fun fact.” I never went back to TCU, having dropped the Modern Dance idea (so I still have never, ever done modern dance), and instead headed out to East Texas to Texas A&M, Commerce. That stands for Art & Music, right? (Hence the BS.) The highlight there was joining my beloved sorority, Chi Omega, that I am very involved with to this day as donor, advisor to the local chapter at Cal Poly and a member of the National Advisory Training Team.
It finally hit me near graduation that there wasn’t much to DO with an art degree (y’know, for money), so I decided I’d see what working in a museum might be like. I was shocked that I was selected for an internship at the Guggenheim in NYC after graduation and decided there that I’d be a museum curator. The Director raved about Cal State Fullerton’s Master’s program and I liked that there wasn’t snow involved. Or the GRE. So out I came to California. I finished grad school with a degree in “Museum Studies & Exhibition Design” and took a job back in NYC, this time at the Whitney. The only hitch was there was this wonderful guy back here in California, so I moved back here to marry & live with him in Rancho Cucamonga (for 30 years now!). It was challenging finding a museum job in the Inland Empire, so I decided to do what my sister did, and spent a year as the Director of “The Kid’s Dance Company” teaching “1-2-3, I touch my knee” (I can demonstrate for you in class) and very slow, whole-leg “shuf-fle step” to 2-8 year olds. One year was enough of that. I then got a job running the art building at the LA County Fair for a stipend, which amounted to less than $100 a week. Even back in the early 90s, that wasn’t enough to pay bills, so I decided to try selling Mary Kay products while I went back to school for non-profit management and fund-raising. The Mary Kay thing went WAY better than expected, and it’s now been a 26 year “temporary” gig. I’ve earned trips and diamonds (a new ring & earrings just last month, in fact!) and 17 cars. I think. I’ve actually lost track. I do know that 8 of them have been the floaty Pink Cadillac. I now take the cash & drive something more reliable, and I think, cooler. I love that my business allows me the freedom to volunteer (a lot) for Chi Omega, go to tap class in the middle of the day and afford my own personal art museum where I get to play curator (aka: my house & art collection). It’s been a GREAT ride!
I absolutely LOVE dancing and am SO happy I found the Young at Heart Tappers through my good friend Louisa Engels whom I know through our shared Buddhist community. I have to say though, just like with the Shirley Wolfe Dancers, it’s not just the dancing that’s so rewarding – it’s the friends, camaraderie and team work that truly make it FUN. So I am MOST grateful for ALL of you in my life! Thank you for including me with open arms and love! ❤
Young At Heart Tappers 