Children ages 1 to 92 filled Backus Community Center Tuesday night for a show of toe-tapping holiday cheer.

Rhythmic Circus presented its feature, Holiday Shuffle, which included music and tap dance to several Christmas classics.

“This is what the holidays are all about – being with family,” said the show’s lead dancer and executive producer, Nick Bowman, from the Backus stage as he looked out over the crowd.

Bowman has been hailed as one of the dance industry’s finest tap technicians and one of the most sought after tap choreographers in North America, according to information distributed at the show. He shared his expertise Monday night with a group of dancers at Darcie Schulz’s dance studio.

“Nick and crew were setting up stage and saw that we were holding class,” Schulz shared in a social media post. “He decided to make his way to our dance room and asked if it would be OK to teach a few combinations… It was a spur-of-the-moment surprise.”

The longtime dance teacher described Bowman’s interaction with students as an amazing 45 minutes, and plans to use the steps he taught in the groups’ dance for the annual recital in May.

Minnesota tour

Tuesday’s show was the second of a 12-city Minnesota tour that kicked off last week. Robin Bjorkquist, Backus event coordinator, said the group was suggest by officials at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, who wrote a grant to allow Rhythmic Circus to tour outside the Twin Cities.

“Everyone loved the show and would like to see the group return,” Bjorkquist said.

Without the grant, Backus would have been unable to afford the group, and cost is a big factor when determining what shows to host throughout the year.

Since Tuesday’s show was successful for a variety of age groups, Bjorkquist and others pledge to keep their ears open for future possibilities to have Rhythmic Circus return.

“Just because a show is expensive doesn’t mean it’s out of the question,” she said. “It depends on grant money available or if the artist or artists are willing to negotiate on fees… Local sponsors are also a big factor. Their financial support allows us to host shows.”

Staff writer Whitney Jackson contributed to this report.