The Fleetest of Feet Faster Than a Speeding-Ball Change, Nationally-Reknowned Hoofers Share Their Art

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Even though Dianne Walker was practically born dancing, she had no inkling she'd someday become a professional. She'll appear in St. Louis this week as a featured performer and instructor at the 4th annual St. Louis Tap Festival.

"I first tap-danced at 2," she says. "I had polio and started lessons as a form of therapy." She studied tap until she was 10, when her family moved from Boston, Mass. to Edwards Air Force Base in California .

Though she played the drums in her high school band and performed as a majorette, Walker didn't take up tap again until the grand old age of 28.

She was established as a clinical social worker in Boston when she met Willie …