Dancing Duo Performs at National Festival
(November 1, 2006) – Dancing duo Gloria Tatum, 74, and Nick Strom, 71, tapped their way to South Dakota recently for the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival.
The pair, who dance with the Twilight Stars Dance Troupe at the Will Rogers Senior Citizens Center, were chosen out of over 2,500 competitors nationwide.
The National Veterans Creative Arts Festival is the culmination of a year’s worth of competitions on the state level in areas such as dance, drama, creative writing, music and visual arts. Medal winners from state competitions may be asked to join the festival.
Tatum and Strom, performing a tap dance to the song Cabaret, were one of only 120 performers nationwide who were asked to bring their medal-winning number to the national festival, held this year in South Dakota.
This isn’t the first time the dancing duo has performed at the national festival. Last year, competing for the first time, they won the top prize for their comedy tap dance at the state level and were asked to bring their routine to the national festival in Denver.
Though the two had been dancing together for years at Will Rogers Senior Citizens Center, Strom only recently learned of the VA-sponsored state competition and entered with Tatum on a whim.
“We hardly knew what it was and we never thought we’d win,” Strom said of the first time they entered in the competition.
Strom, a retired army veteran, has been tap dancing for about eleven years, though he’s always had an interest in performing.
“I wanted to dance as a little boy, but never had the opportunity. My mother was in show business and she thought I was an actor, not a dancer,” Strom recalled.
As a child, Strom had spots in television commercials and even a few small parts in movies. As he got older, he developed a knack for comedy and took his routine on the road throughout Europe and the United States, touring such cities as New York, Norfolk and Chicago.
Tatum tap-danced as a little girl and, though she stopped taking lessons, always had a love of dance. She took up dancing again about 12 years ago and has been with the Twilight Stars Dance Troupe almost as long.
Though they just returned from this year’s national performance a few weeks ago, the duo is already planning next year’s routine.
“Gloria’s 74 and I’m 71. To be our age, I feel really privileged we can do this,” Strom said.
Added Tatum, “I’m just happy I can move!”
Will Rogers Senior Citizens Center, 3501 Pat Murphy Drive, is operated by the Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation Department. It offers a variety of classes for adults over 50 such as painting, genealogy, yoga and ballroom dancing. The Center also hosts a number of groups such a bridge clubs and travel clubs.
To receive a full schedule of the upcoming classes and events at the center, pick up a Recreation Center Schedule at the any Oklahoma City Recreation Center or call Will Rogers Senior Citizens Center at 942-4339.
