Niki Dakota interviews Sharon Leahy and Rick Good of Rhythm in Shoes on Excursions. Rhythm in Shoes will be performing their final show at this weekend's CityFolk Festival in downtown Dayton. After 23 years of performing traditional forms of American dance across the United States and in Canada, Japan, and Ireland, Leahy and Good continue to look ahead at their final performance. "It's not really over until it's over," Good remarks.
On reflection, Good and Leahy find the set-up for their final performance fitting; the original director of CityFolk granted their first formal performance at the renovation of the Victoria Theatre in 1990 and, 6 years later, chose them to open the first CityFolk Festival in Dayton.
When asked if they wish they had done anything more during their career, Leahy proudly states, "We've really done a lot... Whenever there was a good idea, we did it." Their concerns are not so much about their future, but the future of the arts in the Dayton area. Leahy and Good recognize how crucial the support during the beginning of their career was to have arrived where they are today. They express the need for the community to financially support the new small grassroots organizations in Dayton such as the Zoot Theatre Company, a puppet and mask theatre company performing at the festival both Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 PM.
As much as they may continue to look toward the future, Leahy and Good still acknowledge this final performance to be bittersweet. "I had a couple of moments actually during our latest shows where I'd almost get choked up," Leahy says. There is no doubt whether the Miami Valley will miss Rhythm in Shoes.
Rhythm in Shoes will be closing the CityFolk Festival this Sunday at 9:30 PM. For more information visit www.cityfolk.org.
Story adapted for the web by Chris de la Cruz