Biology teachers Lani Giffin and Pam Chow share about their studio dancing experience.
Every week, Biology teachers Lani Giffin and Pam Chow walk into a different kind of classroom, one with no desks, no goggles, and no glowing bacteria. A classroom in which they do not teach, but instead, learn to tap dance.
Science teachers Lani Giffin and Pam Chow smile for the camera and dance around. Photo by Daniel Stenzel.
Venturing away from the rotten smell of the classroom to a fresh musical environment of dance class is one way Chow and Giffin tap away their stresses from work. Chow and Giffin escape to their secret refuge and learn tap dancing in an adult class at a dance studio in Palo Alto.
“It’s a place to go to outside of school, something to look forward to every week,” Giffin said.
They have been tap dancing since September of 2001 and have performed in various shows hosted by their secret dance studio. Chow first experienced tap dancing in a class as a kid, and decided to go back into tap dancing with Giffin.
“I like the noise it makes and the beat. It’s very stress relieving,” Giffin said.
The duo also performed in a talent show hosted by a business class here. “This talent show was embarrassing because even though it was called a “No-talent show," everyone had talent except for us,” Chow said. Giffin, with Chow tagging along, has even traveled overseas to Ireland for a specialized tap dancing classes.
Tap dancing is not only a hobby that allows them to disconnect from teaching, but it also gives them a chance to become students. One thing that they have learned through tap dancing is the experience of being taught.
“[Tap dancing] really puts us in a student’s perspective," Chow said, "If the teacher goes too fast, then we have a hard time following, and we see how the teacher breaks routines into smaller steps, making it easier for us.” Having experienced the difficulty in learning, Chow and Giffin have applied these methods of teaching to their own classroom.
“Usually it’s just repeating steps over and over again,” Giffin said. Like tap dancing, Biology is a subject which requires students to memorize steps of various functions, where emphasis on each step is important.
Tap dancing has been beneficial for Chow and Giffin mentally and physically. “It’s the only exercise I get,”Chow said.
Giffin and Chow hope to continue this hobby and improving their tap. For seven years they have practiced their tap, but they still think that they are not quite as adept as they should be.
Giffin and Chow hope to continue this hobby and improving their tap. For seven years they have practiced their tap, but they still think that they are not quite as adept as they should be.
“Neither of us is a prodigy. We only just manage through,” Chow said. “[As for tap dancing and Biology], I like working with students and it has been a very rewarding experience for me. Tap dancing is just something I do for fun. So I don't think they are truly comparable since it's more of a leisure activity.”
Although tap dancing is something that they have grown to love over the years, teaching is their true passion. Hopefully, Chow and Giffin will be able to tap some Biology into her students.
