i think i can

When and where: May 13-28 (previews May 11-12) at the NAC Theatre

Tickets and information: At the NAC box office, 1-888-991-2787, www.nac-cna.ca

Sometimes Tammy Nera’s feet speak more clearly than her mouth. Since the Ottawa native is in a play with almost no words that’s also a musical with no music, having talented feet is a good thing.

Nera, 30 and a one-time student at Ottawa’s Greta Leeming Studio of Dance, plays Faraday, a schoolgirl in i think i can, the family show that wraps up the current NAC English Theatre season. The show, which opens May 13, is about a physically challenged boy who overcomes schoolyard bullying through perseverance, innate goodness and a really nifty science fair project.

Rather than words, the show uses the rhythms of tap dance to tell the story while percussive sound replaces music.

“Each character has his own signature step,” says Nera, “just like children all have different ways of talking.”

The only character who does speak is the classroom teacher. An adult who’s forgotten her childhood joy in dance and physical expression, she relies on words to communicate. She literally doesn’t speak her students’ language and is blind to the bullying.

Florence Gibson is the Toronto-based playwright who created i think i can along with tap dancer Shawn Byfield. The show, suitable for ages eight and up, won the 2007 Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding new musical. It features a cast of nine.

Gibson was taking tap lessons several years ago when the idea for the show took root. Her dance instructor was a full-time school teacher, and he frequently talked about his students.

“All I could think about was kids and noise and energy and schoolyards when he talked,” says Gibson. It gave her a germ of an idea for a show. Later, relaxing in her bathtub, she was inspired to add a science fair and a teacher who couldn’t communicate with her students, thereby fleshing out the plot and spiking the dramatic tension.

“I just always knew kids would relate to the power of the dance and noise. They have an innate sense of rhythm and body language.

“(Adults) are at our peril if we’re not reading body language. If we really look at someone, we get the subtext, but it’s something we have to work at.”

Young audiences, she says, will relate to the bullying and peer pressure in the show. Teens and adults will pick up on the science as well as the humour of Second City alumna Melody Johnson, who plays the teacher.

The dancing, created by Byfield, is designed to bowl everyone over.

“Tap has the ability to create shading and dynamics,” he says. “You use stomps and stamps and scuffs to show anger, but then you’re lighter on the balls of your feet for other emotions.”

Thanks to television series like So You Think You Can Dance, a new generation is getting acquainted with the dance form, Byfield says.

“When you say ‘tap,’ a lot of people still think of Fred Astaire. We’ve flipped the switch and made it more urban. It’s more appealing to young people.”

Could be that rat-a-tat-tat is about to become the soundtrack of family life in Ottawa.