When Kelby Auten moved to Memphis, she drove straight from Louisville, Kentucky, to an audition for Memphis’ rhythmic tap dance troupe, the Hot Foot Honeys.
“Being new to Memphis, finding this group of girls has been one of the best things that happened,” she says. Auten’s been tap dancing since she was two-and-a-half, starting out as Broadway-style hoofer before gravitating to rhythmic tap. Between, she studied all the usual stuff — jazz and modern.
“I got an offer to teach for Children’s Ballet Theatre in Memphis,” she says. “It was another full time ballet teaching gig. But I found out the Honeys were in Memphis, and that was a big draw. … As long as I’ve got tap shoes on my feet, I’m a happy girl.”
Hot Foot Honeys
Auten is a featured solo performer in “Time Stepping,” an anthology of original tap performances inspired by the idea of time.
Auten’s performance was developed in collaboration with Hot Foot Honeys founder Marianne Bell. It’s a jazzy run through “Some Day My Prince Will Come,” but with a twist. “It has a playful side where we take my ballet training and mix it with rhythm tap,” she says. “It’s not so hard-hitting all the time, and more graceful.
“If the prince shows up, great, but I’m not going to wait around,” she says.”It’s about choosing to still be a princess because I want to,” she says. “Not because I need to be rescued.”