THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 17, 1994 TAG: 9406150190
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940617 LENGTH: Medium
A cleaning lady at the hospital once caught the trio dancing in a storeroom.
{REST} Even hospital president Donald S. Buckley is counting the days until their performance and routinely asks them how practice is going.
The three women, who work in the hospital's marketing department, will make their tap dance debut this weekend at the Academy of Classical and Contemporary Dance's annual recital at Portsmouth's Willett Hall.
Among all the tiny tots, elementary school kids, preteens and teens who traditionally take dance lessons, you'll see grownups Kara C. Jordan Bachman of Greenbrier and Pamela F. Pascual and Nancy L. Harrison of Virginia Beach tapping away to the tune of Natalie Cole's ``Orange Colored Sky.''
Several months ago the three colleagues and friends decided to band together and take tap lessons.
``I wanted to get back into it,'' said Bachman, physician relations coordinator in the hospital's marketing department, who had taken tap dance lessons when she was a girl. ``I thought it would be good exercise, a good way to relieve stress and something fun to do with my co-workers.''
Bachman persuaded Harrison, marketing and communications coordinator, who had also taken tap when she was a youngster, to join her last September for classes at the North Battlefield Boulevard dance school.
They then recruited Pascual, public relations assistant, to make it a tap dancing trio.
``I was already taking ballet,'' Pascual said. ``They told me the tap class is just before ballet. I don't regret the decision at all now, although I had a few doubts before. The classes are better than I expected, and it is a good stress reliever. It's not boring.''
Although the three don't discount the benefits of aerobics, they found tap classes to be a much more desirable way to keep fit.
``It exercises not only the body but the mind since you're learning new steps and routines,'' Harrison said.
``The dance workouts are great,'' Pascual said. ``There's a lot of interaction among the students and between the students and the teacher. You get to know the teacher on a one-on-one basis. You don't feel so self-conscious or intimidated in tap class, as you do in aerobics.''
The three work on their routines even between classes.
They've stayed after class to work, they've met at the flower shop of Harrison's boyfriend to rehearse, and they've even slipped inside the hospital's sixth-floor store room to tap away.
``We even went down to the fifth floor to see if they could hear us above,'' Harrison said. ``They couldn't, and our taps sounded good on that concrete floor.''
Each member of the trio has received other unexpected benefits from the classes, along with the obvious exercise.
Pascual said she's gotten a whole new respect for her sister, who also takes tap dancing; Harrison didn't think she was coordinated but found out differently; and Bachman said they've gotten a lot of respect and notoriety from the entire hospital staff.
``It's like a domino effect. Others in the office are now envious of us and are considering taking the class,'' Bachman said.
``Many of our co-workers tell us they wish they had the nerve to do this,'' Pascual said. ``I tell them it's never too late.''
Saturday is the day of reckoning, when the three don their colorful costumes for their brief moment on stage.
``It will be the longest 10 minutes and 30 seconds of our lives,'' Harrison said with a laugh. ``But I don't think we'll make fools out of ourselves. The last time I was in a recital I was 6 or 7, and I hated it. I never cracked a smile.''
Harrison said her parents are threatening to come all the way from Arkansas to see her performance.
``Our costumes look great, and we're going look good while we're at it,'' Bachman said. ``The last time I was on stage I was 12 and in the Little Miss Wilmington Pageant.''
``We're going to be great,'' Pascual said. ``The whole staff at the hospital will know the marketing department has talented people.''
by CNB