by Len Lear

Ginger is a healthful, nutritious spice, and Ginger Sable is a healthful, energetic dance teacher who will definitely inject some spice into the life of anyone who takes her upcoming classes in “Tap Dancing for Adults” for the Mt. Airy Learning Tree.

Ginger, 50, a Glenside resident who danced professionally in Florida for several years, will be teaching courses for beginners, intermediate beginners and advanced beginners. Each course will have eight half-hour sessions, all beginning on Monday, Jan. 23, and continuing weekly until March 20. They start at 6 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, in the Center at Journey's Way, 403 Rector St., Roxborough.

““People over 30 should take tap because it's fun,” said Ginger. “Tap may be the easiest dance style to learn and perform. Many great tap dancers performed well into their later years, perhaps jumping a bit less but creating ever more interesting and complex rhythms with their feet. Improvising, or choreographing tap is as much a musical skill as a physical one. Tap dancers are both performers and musicians.”

Sable began dancing at age 3 and has taught dance in Florida and Pennsylvania for over 20 years. She studied ballet and modern dance at the University of South Florida and is an active member of the Philadelphia tap dance community. She currently studies the Philadelphia style of tap dancing from Robert Burden, Timothy Yue and Corinne Karon but grew up performing Broadway-style tap. She merges these two styles in her classes.

Ginger is originally from South Florida, where she went to high school and college. “I stuffed some clothes and my TV into my Mazda Miata and drove from Florida to Philadelphia shortly after I graduated college,” she said. “I was aiming to get closer to New York City for the arts but fell in love with Philly and stayed.”

Ginger began teaching at age 16 in Florida and has continued since then at various dance studios, community centers and after-school programs. Her professional dancing consisted mainly of industrial work (corporate functions).  But she also performed on local television several times, in a music video and at an Orange Bowl fundraiser with Carol Channing. Her last performance was with Pam Heatherington's Philadelphia Community Tap Project.

“Even for the best and most famous dancers, making a living is difficult,” said Ginger. “Michelle Dorrance, one of the most celebrated and successful tap dancers of this decade, still has trouble making ends meet, mainly because putting on a show is expensive, and ticket sales for dance shows, especially tap, are notoriously low ... I admire many dancers but mainly those tap dancers who have dedicated their lives to the art form.

“I think one of the misconceptions people have about dancers is that if they see a dancer on stage, they must be making a great paycheck. Most of the time, the band and stage hands get paid more than the dancers because they are union members. Too often dancers have to sacrifice their pay in order to cover the costs of putting on the show.”

Because of the intense, unrelenting pressure on the knees, ankles and feet, many dancers, like other athletes, suffer chronic, often debilitating or career-ending injuries. What about Ginger? “I have been fortunate not to sustain any serious injuries. I have many overuse and chronic injuries that are typical of any dancer.”

How does Ginger feel about the proliferation of popular dance shows on TV? “I love 'So You Think You Can Dance.' I think the quality of the choreography and the level of talent is excellent. I also think it assisted in a recent resurgence of interest in tap dancing. I don't follow 'Dancing with the Stars,' but ballroom isn't really my wheelhouse.”

If Ginger could live anywhere on earth, where would it be? “I would love to travel all over the world, but I love Philadelphia the most. The diversity of people, the food, the culture, the history, the attitude, I love it all.”

For more information about “Tap Dancing for Adults,” call 215-843-6333 or visit www.mtairylearningtree.org