Seniors Tap to Beat, Into Others’ Hearts : Entertainment: The tap-dancing troupe performs at festivals and frequently at convalescent homes and neighborhood groups.

Phill Caywood discovered late in life that he’s just gotta dance.

The 78-year-old Caywood, a former Northrop engineer, is today the sole--and proud--male dancer in the Tapping Tempos, a seniors tap-dancing troupe that performs for groups and at festivals across the county.

“I just like to move to music,” explained Caywood of Ojai, as he adjusted the thick, black-rimmed glasses atop his nose. “Sometimes, you hear music and everybody’s standing around. Heck, I want to dance to it.”

He did a shuffle step for emphasis. The other troupe members looked on. They know what he means. So what if it takes a few more leg stretches these days before they’re ready to hit the dance studio? They’re retired--they have the time.

Organized by 50-year-old Jackie Warner Ringhof, a Casitas Springs dance teacher and senior fitness trainer, the Tempos range in age from 59 to 78. From the neck up, many of the dancers look eligible for AARP (American Assn. of Retired Persons) membership; from the neck down, though, they give Betty Grable a run for her money.

“I guess, in a way, you could say that this is fulfilling a fantasy for me,” said Helen Salzer, 76, of Ventura, who says she inspired her granddaughters to take up tap dancing.

“I always loved to dance,” she said. “When I was a little girl, I was always in trouble for wearing out my shoes. Whenever I got out of school, I would go up to my room--I had a great, big mirror in there--and I would dance.”

Twice a week, the dozen or so troupe members meet to take lessons from Warner--on Tuesdays, they go to Ojai, and on Thursdays, they gather at a studio in Ventura. The group’s regular performers pay $5 for each lesson; those who just drop in to dance without performing pay $6 per lesson.

The Tempos say they have danced on floors so slippery it felt like gliding over an ice rink. They’ve done their routine--kicking and strutting to old-band favorites, complete with spangled hats, tuxedo bibs and fishnet stockings for the ladies--around a pool, with the odd-dancer-out performing on the diving board. They’re regulars at festivals in Ojai, including the annual Ojai Days, and they frequently perform for convalescent homes and neighborhood groups.

“At the nursing homes, (even) the ones who are not alert will remember (the performance) and talk about it three weeks later,” said Glenna Tippett, “60-ish,” of Ojai, who performs with the group sporadically. “People who are shut in feel they have been left out of the world. These people come in and it’s that touch they wanted.”

Warner adds that residents of convalescent homes often relate to the performers. “We’ve had people tell us, ‘Oh, I used to be a hoofer,’ ” she said. “We had a gal one time who sang with us. She didn’t sing the same song we were singing, but she just sang and sang. That’s what we’re here for, to bring a breath of fresh air.”

Lynne Miller, the activities director of Victoria Care Center, a convalescent hospital in Ventura, said she tries to book the Tempos for performances as often as she can.

For the hospital’s frail, elderly residents, “in a way, it’s like having a Broadway show come here, because the Tempos are so sparkly,” Miller said. “They’re just the added spice.”

Members say the troupe brings the same touch to their lives, as well. “There is so much to change and keep you challenged with different choreographing,” said troupe member Susan Davis, 59, of Ojai. “It makes my brain work, as well as my feet.”

Davis said her favorite part of working with the group is doing the performances. She loves watching audiences’ faces light up as the Tempos dance, she said.

“When people get together and applaud,” she said, “that’s payment enough.”

Cayman, on the other hand, says he can live without the performances. He stays with the Tempos because his wife doesn’t want him doing the tango with another woman, he says.

“My wife wouldn’t go to ballroom dancing with me, but she didn’t object to this because I’m not holding someone’s hand,” he said.

Cayman looked around the room. “I’m the only guy here, though, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Warner started the dance classes in the spring of 1978, after pupils in her seniors fitness class asked Warner for tap dancing classes as well. Soon, the informal class sessions became a performing troupe.

In 1980, the Tempos performed at the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento. Warner said her troupe has also been on “The Richard Simmons Show,” on a “Salute to Seniors” episode, and has performed with celebrities such as Gregory Hines.

Though troupe members come and go, most have been with the group at least five years, and a few have danced with Warner a decade or longer.

“It’s really remarkable that she’s held so many people together without their egos getting in the way,” said Davis, who started dancing with the Tempos in 1980. “She doesn’t say everyone has to be blond and tall and 110 pounds and kick at a 45-degree angle. Everyone is welcome.”