The lobby was decorated like a big pink castle. That should have tipped me off, but I sat and waited for the children's jazz class before it to wrap up, along with several other adults that did not have tap shoes with them. (Parents.) When the jazz class was over, and tap was about to start, I introduced myself to the tap teacher, and he informed me that some of the kids participate in the class.
He said I was the only adult who had ever showed up.
I was already there, and already had my shoes on, so I joined in with the kids for my first tap class in Virginia. I'm awful at gauging kids' ages, for serious, but based on the fact that all the little girls in that class were pretty tall for kids, though still pre-pubescent, and that they were doing some steps that I didn't learn until high school, I'd guess they were probably around age 10 or 11. I have been taking tap classes longer than they have been alive.
Actually, my shoes might even be older than they are.
By the way? Tapping with kids is TOTALLY different than tapping with adults. There was a lot less structure than I am used to, because little girls like running around and shouting the tap moves they want to do, and showing off by doing the steps as fast as humanly possible. Which I can't really fault them for, because I did the same thing when I was a kid.
Also? They love it when other people show off stuff they can't do yet. So they basically told me that when I come back next time I need to show them all the tricks I know. I kind of like being adored.
I haven't decided yet if I'm going back or not though. Because is that weird, to be the only adult in what is basically a kids' class that's called "adult tap"? I don't want to take tap for the sole purpose of showing off; I want to take it because I love it, and even after 16+ years of classes, I still want to learn new things and get better.
However, I was surprised that, in a class full of kids, I still learned some new things on my first day, things that I am not yet capable of doing and that I need to practice. (I think the teacher was trying to gauge what I knew and what I didn't, because one move in particular was extremely difficult-looking, and I don't know how he defied gravity long enough to get that many sounds in.)
If you were in my Capezios, would you continue with classes even if you didn't fit in so well? (There are a couple other studios in town that offer adult classes, but I'm not sure yet if tap is available at any of them. I plan on making some calls today.)