Yale Staffer Keeps Seniors Tap-Tap-Tapping Along

It might seem that Judyth Nilsson lives life a bit backwards. She works at Yale in the evenings, and, during the day, puts on her dancing shoes.

More specifically, she puts on her tap shoes as she teaches two groups of senior citizens — the performance-level, Hamden-based Twilight Tappers and the beginner-level Foot Lighters, who meet at the North Haven Senior Center.

Before she came to Yale 17 years ago, Nilsson — now assistant director of the Office of Development’s Phone Program — owned her own dance studio in Hamden, where she taught ballet, jazz, tap and acrobatics. She has also choreographed shows for the Shubert Theater Opera, the Connecticut Experimental Theatre and a number of local high schools.

Nilsson has been the dance instructor and choreographer for the Twilight Tappers for nearly two decades. She spoke recently about that role after the group’s class at the Margaret L. Keefe Center in Hamden. Here is what we learned.

Tiny dancer: Nilsson was three years old when she started dance lessons in New Haven. She continued her studies at the American Ballet Theatre. In classes there, she sometimes danced alongside such legends as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Over the years, she danced in various ballet and opera companies.

Perfecting pointe and pirouettes: Nilsson eventually gave up performing to teach. She led her teenaged ballet company on two European tours. “During the years I had my studio, I choreographed dozens of ballets,” she recalls. “I have always loved doing choreography. I do love dancing, but for me, putting on a costume and going out was never a priority.”

Bringing down the house: Not long after closing her own studio, Nilsson was invited to teach tap dancing to a group of older women whose original instructor quit. By then, she was working at the Yale Repertory Theatre, where she sold ticket subscriptions.

“I went one week, taught the class and loved it. I loved the ladies. So I decided I would help them out. For me, it’s all about the group,” says Nilsson, who later became the sales manager for the Yale Rep and School of Drama.

Today, there are 17 Twilight Tappers — including many of the original members of the tap class — ranging in age from 60 to 91. Most are in their mid-70s.

Nilsson leads the Twilight Tappers in their twice-weekly rehearsals at the Keefe Center, where they prepare for the variety of local performances held throughout the year. They have performed at senior centers and nursing homes, for women’s clubs and at local schools and universities. The tappers almost always “bring the house down,” says Nilsson.

“It keeps me going”: Some of the Twilight Tappers began dancing in Nilsson’s tap class, while others have danced since childhood. Lyn Hurd, who is in her 70s, is a former dancer with the Rockettes. “When we get these kicks going, it brings back good memories,” she says.

Several tappers say dancing helped them recover from knee or hip replacements and heart bypass operations. The group’s eldest member is Lily Angelo, 91, a former ballroom dancer whose later-in-life foray into tap dance landed her a spot on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show.” If she wasn’t dancing, she says, she’d probably be in a nursing home with her twin sister: “I would not be able to move around.”

Marcia Reiter, 72, notes that tap dancing helps brings more than physical benefits: “We have to remember 10 to 12 new routines and we have to remember the steps, so it really helps us to focus and helps our memory, which, unfortunately, is a big problem as we age.”

Adds Nilsson: “There is nothing quite as good for the legs as tap dancing.”

Mastering new moves: Nilsson is something of an eternal student when it comes to dancing. She is currently taking a class in zumba - which, she explains, is a fusion of “old-fashioned aerobics and Latin music.”

She spends countless hours listening to old and new music she can use with the Twilight Tappers and the Foot Lighters. “Music comes first for me,” says Nilsson. “Every piece of music I use has to be something that I want to spend time working with.”

She particularly likes Broadway show tunes.

Bulldog Callers: As assistant director of the Yale’s Phone Program for the past nine years, Nilsson helps oversee the “Bulldog Callers,” a staff of work-study students that connects with alumni and parents as part of the University’s fundraising campaign.

“I also love working with young people,” says Nilsson.

Beyond the stage door: Her love of gardening, the outdoors and animals (she has two cats) inspires Nilsson’s friends to tell her that she should have been a forest ranger.

“I just think of myself as a Renaissance person,” says Nilsson.

She admits to being somewhat unyielding when it comes to teaching dance to senior citizens.

“I never treat them like seniors,” she says. “They get the same corrections and criticisms I would give young students. Everybody has to learn how to take it.”

— By Susan Gonzalez