Gay Gibson, front, with tap dancers Jenny Adrichem, left, Terry Guilford and Christine Lay. After a lifetime of dancing, Gay is still spreading the joy of a good workout for the body and the mind.
By Liane Arno
WITH my early childhood in England I had no idea who Gay Gibson was referring to when she talked about finger-clicking, plaid suited and hatted Happy Hammond. I googled him when I got home and found a YouTube of this infectiously smiling fellow singing, “Happy Days are Here Again” with Princess Panda and Lovely Anne. Much of the film stock of this Channel 7 children’s program is now destroyed. If it wasn’t, we would be able to see Gay dancing on stage as a pre-teenager.
Gay was ‘discovered’ when a talent scout raced out from the Myer Emporium (as it was called then) when she was walking past as a four-year-old with her mother and three-year-old sister and said, “Oh!” the talent scout said. “That’s just what I’m looking for!”
WITH my early childhood in England I had no idea who Gay Gibson was referring to when she talked about finger-clicking, plaid suited and hatted Happy Hammond. I googled him when I got home and found a YouTube of this infectiously smiling fellow singing, “Happy Days are Here Again” with Princess Panda and Lovely Anne. Much of the film stock of this Channel 7 children’s program is now destroyed. If it wasn’t, we would be able to see Gay dancing on stage as a pre-teenager.
Gay was ‘discovered’ when a talent scout raced out from the Myer Emporium (as it was called then) when she was walking past as a four-year-old with her mother and three-year-old sister and said, “Oh!” the talent scout said. “That’s just what I’m looking for!”
The two sisters ended up on the very first Myer Moomba Float – high up above the crowd, waving enthusiastically in glittering costumes. Where Gay’s sister was too shy, Gay loved the limelight and appeared as a child model on the Myer catwalk as well as in advertisements. She remembers one advertisement photo shoot quite vividly because she had to wear pyjamas and sit awkwardly on the carpet. “At least I got to keep the PJs!” says Gay, now 65 years later.
Gay started dancing, according to her mother who was a professional dancer and singer, when she was still wearing nappies. She started dancing lessons with Alice Uren when she was still a toddler and moved to May Downs School of Dance when she was just starting school. May Downs, which is still going strong, has been a Melbourne institution for over 100 years. It was the dance studio that fed into Channel 7, which is why Gay found herself in the studio on the Happy Hammond stage. It was great fun. She was even paid, but it didn’t cover the cost of the special lessons required, the trip from Montmorency to the rehearsals in town or the costumes. Her father complained that they couldn’t afford it (and they couldn’t) and so they stopped. Well at least for a little while. Then Gay’s mother found the Olive Wallace School of Dance which happened to feed into the rival Channel 9 show – Junior 9 Ballet.
Gay started dancing, according to her mother who was a professional dancer and singer, when she was still wearing nappies. She started dancing lessons with Alice Uren when she was still a toddler and moved to May Downs School of Dance when she was just starting school. May Downs, which is still going strong, has been a Melbourne institution for over 100 years. It was the dance studio that fed into Channel 7, which is why Gay found herself in the studio on the Happy Hammond stage. It was great fun. She was even paid, but it didn’t cover the cost of the special lessons required, the trip from Montmorency to the rehearsals in town or the costumes. Her father complained that they couldn’t afford it (and they couldn’t) and so they stopped. Well at least for a little while. Then Gay’s mother found the Olive Wallace School of Dance which happened to feed into the rival Channel 9 show – Junior 9 Ballet.
| | Gay learned everything from ballet to tap to jazz and appeared in pantomimes at Her Majesty’s Theatre. In order to ‘encourage’ the dancers to do the splits her teacher used to sit on their shoulders to force them to be more parallel to the ground. Another teacher, Bill Maynard, would carry around a big stick and give the dancers a ‘whack’ on the back of the legs when they didn’t meet his high standards. |
She was doing point work at 10 years of age which is unheard of these days. Nowadays dancers have the luxury of shoes with gel inserts to protect the toes. In those days it was cotton wool which would have to be peeled off at the end of the day because of the congealed blood.
Even so it was a huge amount of fun – but little girls do grow up, get married and have children. And so dancing was put on hold for a while – until of course Gay took her daughter to dancing classes.
Gay joined the seniors’ class and then got asked if she wanted to take exams. “Why not?” She finished her Diploma after only three years instead of the norm of ten years. On her finals she sat three exams in one day – for ballet, jazz and tap. She got stuck in remembering her first step. Gay tells me she is always hopeless at remembering that first step – but once that is done everything always flows so well. When the examiner asked her to wait after the exams she feared she had failed. Instead she got asked if she would be interested in teaching. “Why not?”
Gay has taught hundreds of students over the years. She has had her own studio as well as dancewear outlets. When she found that the parents couldn’t sew for their children she took up sewing. “I can’t tell you the number of tutus I have made in my life!”
Gay now holds tap dance classes at Studio Phoenix in Wonthaggi. “I’m not ready to do nothing.” She has a group of half a dozen who join her for an hour every week for fitness and fun – and to use their brain.
When the Post visits the studio, students Terry Guilford, Jenny Adrichem and Chris Lay are enthusiastic about a workout for the brain and body.
Jenny comes from Warragul every week, bar Covid, for years. "I wouldn't miss it. It's the music, the workout, the company. I always feel uplifted."
Gay says she sometimes wonders if she has the energy for a session - and always feels wonderful afterwards.
If you'd like to give it a go, classes start again in early February. As Gay would say, “Why not?”
Tap dance classes, Thursday, 1-2pm, during term time, Studio Phoenix 3 Fuller Rd, North Wonthaggi (next to Hicksborough Store). $10 a class. Contact Gay on 0488 022 984.
Even so it was a huge amount of fun – but little girls do grow up, get married and have children. And so dancing was put on hold for a while – until of course Gay took her daughter to dancing classes.
Gay joined the seniors’ class and then got asked if she wanted to take exams. “Why not?” She finished her Diploma after only three years instead of the norm of ten years. On her finals she sat three exams in one day – for ballet, jazz and tap. She got stuck in remembering her first step. Gay tells me she is always hopeless at remembering that first step – but once that is done everything always flows so well. When the examiner asked her to wait after the exams she feared she had failed. Instead she got asked if she would be interested in teaching. “Why not?”
Gay has taught hundreds of students over the years. She has had her own studio as well as dancewear outlets. When she found that the parents couldn’t sew for their children she took up sewing. “I can’t tell you the number of tutus I have made in my life!”
Gay now holds tap dance classes at Studio Phoenix in Wonthaggi. “I’m not ready to do nothing.” She has a group of half a dozen who join her for an hour every week for fitness and fun – and to use their brain.
When the Post visits the studio, students Terry Guilford, Jenny Adrichem and Chris Lay are enthusiastic about a workout for the brain and body.
Jenny comes from Warragul every week, bar Covid, for years. "I wouldn't miss it. It's the music, the workout, the company. I always feel uplifted."
Gay says she sometimes wonders if she has the energy for a session - and always feels wonderful afterwards.
If you'd like to give it a go, classes start again in early February. As Gay would say, “Why not?”
Tap dance classes, Thursday, 1-2pm, during term time, Studio Phoenix 3 Fuller Rd, North Wonthaggi (next to Hicksborough Store). $10 a class. Contact Gay on 0488 022 984.