Faith Lutheran high-schoolers have lofty goals for their tap-dancing careers

Get ready to snap your fingers to a swinging number the moment Old Soles takes the stage.

The name is an oxymoron, as the dance group is anything but old. It’s made up of four high school students from Faith Lutheran, 2015 S. Hualapai Way. The group – Jackson Langford, 17, Tom Riggleman, 15, Makenna Bear, 15, and Delaney Sylvester, 16 — formed in October. Most have had years of dance and musical theater training.

At a rehearsal of their swing-style tap at Dance Factor, 7925 W. Sahara Ave., veteran showman Tony Coppola said it was nice to see young people involved in tap dance.

“When you teach choreography, you’re promoting the art forms theater and dance,” he said. “The nice thing about these kids is that the discipline they’re already gotten in theater makes them very focused.”

All four study privately with him once a week, as well as two hours with him as a group, in preparation for 20 hours of community service this spring.

Coppola walked to the front of the room and rubbed his hands together in a circular motion, signaling the start of rehearsal.

“Let’s do this,” he said.

The music — “Come Dance With Me,” a polished rendition by Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block fame — clicked on.

The number began with Langford sliding into position to take center stage. He broke into some easy tap moves. A few beats later, Riggleman joined him. The two mirrored each other’s moves, the striking of their tap shoes reflecting their precision.

Bear and Sylvester twirled on stage with a flourish, and the choreography had all four tapping in step, pairing up for a short “stroll down the path” component. Then Bear broke off to move to the side for a cutesy pose before regrouping for more fancy footwork highlighted by Sylvester showing off her high kick.

Coppola, on the side watching, mimicked the moves as they rehearsed. He stepped in from time to time.

“Show me the 5-6-7-8 from here,” he said, breaking into the same step the teens had just performed.

Instruction came not so much in the form of words — though the tap dance vocabulary includes a number of terms, such as flaps, time steps, drawbacks and the one Michael Jackson made famous, the “pause on your tiptoes” pull toe — but in movement.

“It’s like this: da dabba doo dah,” Coppola said, emphasizing the last sound, his feet moving to show what he meant.

The teens watched intently.

“Let’s pull to the right where she does that turn and then step, shuffle, bah, babba bah,” Coppola said, finishing off the move.

Everyone nodded and got into position to go through it again.

“Tap is great because you can do it wherever, whenever,” Langford said. “It’s the dance where you create your own rhythms … arguably the most musical theater of all the dances.”

Though only newly conceived by Langford and Riggleman, Old Soles has performed at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts for the Nevada High School Musical Theater Awards show, at Cashman Field and in its school’s performing arts center. Cheryl Ruettiger, a volunteer with Faith Lutheran’s theater group, said Old Soles was in talks to perform at St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, elementary schools, senior centers and churches.

Sylvester has been dancing since age 2 but only started tap about a year and a half ago.

“I had always sworn off tap because I was a strict ballerina,” she said. “But I started tap and I fell in love with it. It’s showy and fun and flirty.”

Bear began learning tap two years ago and said studying with Coppola has upped her game and advanced her technique immeasurably.

“I want to make it. I want to be on Broadway,” Bear said.

Riggleman said that by “being part of this group, I can take the love I have for this art form and take it and flourish it and make it even more.”

Langford, who has his eye on Broadway, said he likes the old-school vibe of tap and intentionally forgoes styles that appeal to most teens, preferring to tap to 1930s and 1940s music.

“You see so much of new-style dancing, of new-style tap, and we wanted to bring it back to its roots,” Langford said. “We’d like to offer something new by offering something old.”

To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.