Celebrating Carolyn Wood, 84 and still dancing

Carolyn Wood has been dancing since she was 3. At 4, she did her first big show on Dec. 1, 1935, at the Palm Garden in New York City.

At 8 or 9, after a bout of rheumatic fever, doctors told her she would never dance again.

"But there I am. I fooled them all," she said.

Close to 80 years after her first big show, Wood still dances nearly every day. Five days a week, she can be found leading classes at the West Flamingo Senior Center, 6255 W. Flamingo Road. And she has no intention of stopping anytime soon.

Wood has come a long way since her first show. She laughs when she recalls that the huge, two-level stage, bright lights and pit full of musicians with trombones and violins blaring frightened her so much, she wet her pants.

But she didn't stay scared long. At 16, she started lessons with professionals on Broadway and was featured on her own radio show, "Words by Wood," in New Brunswick, N.J.

At 17, she got a fake ID and started performing in nightclubs as a singer, percussionist, dancer and stand-up comedian.

"And I worked the world," she said, spouting off a lightning swift list of places from France and Germany to China and the Philippines. She performed in countries across every continent except South America, where she visited only Venezuela. Much of her travel was with the European Armed Forces Professional Entertainment Division.

Wood said it might sound glamorous, but she never really got to play the tourist. It was always on to the next stage.

"I feel cheated," she said. "I never married or anything. I was always on the road."

On her return to New York, she worked as a teacher, instructing students in tap, modern dance, jazz and ballet at Carnegie Hall, and she worked Off Broadway as a choreographer.

Wood came to Las Vegas in 1978 as emotional support for a New York friend diagnosed with a terminal disease. Three years later, her friend, an avid gambler, died.

"And I just stayed," Wood said.

Peggy Ryan, movie musical dance partner to Donald O'Connor, pushed Wood to consider teaching dance to Las Vegas seniors.

Wood balked at the idea at first. She had taught professionals, kids even. But seniors...

"What am I going to do with 60-year-olds?" she recalled saying. "They can't do a time-step. Are you crazy? She said, 'No, there's a big market for it.' "

So Wood checked out downtown Las Vegas' since-closed Reed Whipple Cultural Center and fell in love with the studio.

"Everybody rehearsed up there," she said. "It was a gorgeous studio — Liza Minnelli and Ann-Margret; people like that rehearsed there before they opened in Vegas."

Wood was bumped ahead of two other teachers hoping for a position and was invited to start immediately. She stayed 14 years. Sun City MacDonald Ranch's community center hired her away, and she spent 17 years there. Then in 1998, she was lured to the just-opening West Flamingo Senior Center. It was walking distance from her home, and she couldn't pass that up.

Though she was reluctant at first, Wood said teaching seniors is the best.

"I love them only because it gives them a whole new beginning, a whole new way of living, and it's not just tap; it's a way of life," she said. "It's spiritual. It's physical. It's mental. It's emotional. It's everything. It keeps the brain cooking and the blood flowing."

West Flamingo Senior Center supervisor Diane Bush said Wood is dedicated to her students and has a great work ethic.

"She shows up five days a week," she said. "She's just amazing, and her students — that's where the proof in the pudding lies; her students adore her. She's had a loyal following here for many years."

That following includes regulars who sign up every session and annual students as far-flung as Connecticut and Germany who drop in once a year on vacation.

Bunny Ciaburri has been taking classes from Wood for 3½ years.

"She's very dedicated," said Ciaburri, "and she always gives her all, 100 percent. It's a pleasure. It's fun to come here, and I feel good about being here."

Karen Langbert gets so much out of classes with Wood, she's been at it for roughly 10 years.

"She's a fantastic, vibrant, excellent teacher," Langbert said. "I had never danced, never knew anything, especially tap. And, boy, she got my feet going, my brain going, and now I'm tapping two times a week, and I'm loving it."

Even at 84, Wood has no intentions of slowing down. She taps along with students for an hour or two at a time without a break. While students are fanning themselves and breathing hard, Wood barely breaks a sweat, and good luck catching her sitting down.

"I don't even think about it," she said. "I've been doing it all my life. It just comes naturally."

Wood said she never thinks about retiring, even though people ask her about it all the time. When the time comes, she hopes to go out with her tap shoes on.

"When I'm 104, I'm going to celebrate again," she said. "Yes, 20 years from now, we'll be here together. If not, I'll be in heaven teaching God how to do a time-step. He probably doesn't know how, but I'll show him."

For more information about classes, visit clarkcountynv.gov or call 702-455-7742.

— Contact View contributing reporter Ginger Meurer at gmeurer@viewnews.com. Find her on Twitter: @gingermmm.