COURSEY HARRELLS FERRY MILLERVILLE OLD JEFFERSON PA R K V I E W SHENANDOAH TIGER BEND WHITE OAK
ADVOCATE THE SOUTHEAST
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
W e d n e s d ay, Au g u s t 13, 2025
If you would no longer like to receive this free product, please email brtmc@ theadvocate.com.
1GN
Jan Risher LONG STORY SHORT
Five states to go for Postcard Project
STAFF PHOTOS BY BRAD BOWIE
Lisa Breaux leads a tap dancing class for senior citizens recently at Jill Listi dance studios in Lafayette.
TAPPING IN A Lafayette dance teacher uses tap dancing as a memory life hack
BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer
Shuffle ball changes echo around the Jill Listi dance studio in Lafayette, but instead of girls in black leotards and pink tights, the room is full of adults dressed in their casual tap dance attire. Each student exercises their muscles and their brains while learning new steps and practicing the routine. Lisa Breaux, 70, is the adult tap teacher who has been in dance since she was 2 years old. Her mother, also a dance teacher, owned five studios in Acadiana, so Breaux has lived in the dance studio nearly her whole life. Breaux is a dance specialist who teaches students of all ages and a wide variety of mental and physical disabilities. As a national certified dance instructor of Dance Masters of America in ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics, Breaux has been invited to teach tap at their National Convention in Los Angeles. She also is a licensed speech, language and hearing specialist having worked in the Lafayette Parish School System for several years. She teaches a Dance Challenge class for dancers with special needs on Tuesday nights after her adult tap classes. These days, Breaux’s focus is on teaching older dancers new tricks. She choreographs and teaches a new dance each week to her adult tap students. Instead of counts, she instructs by sound. Although tap is still Breaux’s favorite dance style, she says it’s different teaching adults rather than teaching children. “When you teach with children, you’re counting, and it’s very repetitious,” she said. “With adults, I can probably have a brand-new student in with somebody who’s had 10 to 15 years of dance and can make it work. You can always scale it to where it’s harder
Students take a break between songs. or easier, and adults learn by sound. They learn patterns.” The tap students range in age from 20 to 70, both men and women. She encourages her students to practice and use muscle memory for the steps. Breaux mixes up the music — from Michael Jackson to The Eagles to Bobby Darin, and the percussive tap rhythms evolve. She says it takes her a couple of hours to choreograph a new routine, and since she does this weekly, it’s great for her mentally. Usually, Breaux takes the summers off, and this summer she spent June in Spain on a religious walking pilgrimage. Upon her return, her tap students were clamoring for classes, so Breaux held her first summer class the second week of July. While Breaux espouses the physical benefits of tap dancing for adults, she insists that it’s the mind that gets the most workout during a class. “It’s a mental game, you know,” she says. “I go watch the adults, and when they’re doing stuff wrong, I’ll remind them that this has nothing to do with your feet, has everything to do with your head.” Claudia Campbell, a tap
Lisa Breaux holds a shoe before leading a tap dancing class for senior citizens. student in her 60s, was a non-tapper when she began classes in 2019 before the COVID pandemic. Once classes resumed, Campbell and her friends returned on most Tuesday nights. She credits Breaux with being an amazing teacher who is patient and fun. “It’s really a wonderful exercise, and we laugh, and it’s just having something in common with other women
in my age group,” Campbell said. “We have learned so much, and the one thing that Lisa stresses a lot is memory, like your muscle memory.” Breaux reminds her students, young and old, that they need to be fully focused. Tap class is not the time to think about dinner plans, phone calls, homework or what’s going on later. The
ä See DANCE, page 2G
Oh, Delaware, where art thou? And Kansas. And Kentucky, New Hampshire and West Virginia? Those are the only five states we’re missing for the 2025 Postcard Project — our fourth summer of collecting postcards, which ends on Labor Day. There’s still time to reach our goal of all 50 states and as many countries as possible. If you’re visiting any of those five states — or know someone who lives there — please consider sending a postcard. We’ve received postcards from all 50 states each of the last three years, and we’re hoping to keep the streak alive. As I write, we have received a total of 174 postcards from 45 states and 24 countries. A common refrain this year? Postcards are surprisingly hard to find. I recognize, appreciate and salute the people who take their time and energy to find postcards, address them, buy postage for them and figure out how to mail them wherever they are. Their efforts are a testament to what is required to build connection with others. I don’t take it for granted. June B. sent a postcard from Lake Murray, South Carolina, and opened with, “This is the only SC postcard I could find, so please excuse the unremarkableness of it!” Pattie, who has sent in several postcards on behalf of her uncle, Larry Landry, says that on her 10-state road trip, she has learned many remarkable things. Including this fun fact: the Buc-ee’s in Rockingham, Virginia, doesn’t sell postcards. On a card from Tennessee, she wrote that finding a mailbox on the road is just as challenging as finding a postcard. On a postcard from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, she wrote that she saw a bear at the park and has some advice for fellow road travelers: “Don’t drive the Blue Ridge Sky Parkway after dark!” Susan Pecue managed to find and mail a postcard from Bled Island in Slovenia. She wrote, “What a beautiful part of the world I find myself in — green and clean is the way locals describe it. The water in the lake is crystal clear. Travel is about new experiences and spending time with those you love.” R.C. Chapin heard that we needed a Wyoming postcard and stepped up to the plate after visiting Fort Caspar in Casper, Wyoming. The Fort Caspar Museum features exhibits related to the history of the 1865 reconstructed fort located on the Oregon, Mormon, California, Pony Express and transcontinental trail corridor. Trish sent a postcard from Paris, where she is visiting her daughter. She writes, “Most places are not air-conditioned and it has been in the 90’s — feels like home temps. I have been accomplishing my goal of eating a new kind of pastry daily. Oooh la la. Bread, cheese, wine and pastry!” Joann sent greetings from St. Louis, Missouri. She wrote, “St. Louis is an avid sports city. Known for the Arch on the riverfront. Enjoy toasted ravioli and gooey butter cakes.” Sonny Barksdale sent a vintage New Orleans postcard and wrote his missive in cursive as a nod to my newsroom experiment
ä See RISHER, page 2G