HANSVILLE — With heel tapping, an electric slide and a clap of the hands, 19 North Kitsap grandmothers will shimmy their way through 2007. Though stepping into their golden years, the Boot Scootin’ Grannies have proved they can tap toes with the best of them.

With a new member recently joining the ranks, the group has had to learn new steps in an effort to welcome her in, said Boot Scootin’ Granny Julie Morrison, who has been with the group since it started in 1996.

“It’s really hard to bring in new members,” she said. “It’s quite a commitment to perform with us. We practice two days a week, and if you don’t show up, you won’t know the steps for the performances. The practices also provide us with exercise, which is why the group got started. If you don’t know the dance, you don’t get the exercise.”

While integrating new members into the Grannies isn’t always easy, once in, they are immediately privy to all the comforts the ladies provide for each other.

“For the new ones, it takes a little bit of time to come into the fold,” Morrison said. “There’s so much more to the group than just entertaining. We depend on each other, lean on each other when times are tough, help each other out. It can be hard to learn to do that with a new person, but once we do, we have one more person to count on.”

The dance group has lost five members over the past decade, whether to time or moving on to new interests, she said. With the increasing popularity of the Boot Scootin’ Grannies, and all the health benefits regular dancing provides, it has attracted that same number of new women to the group in the last couple of years.

In the coming months, the grannies are looking forward to new performances, new dances and new spunk to increase their vigorous exercise routine as much as possible — not to mention the fun they have at every practice and festival, Morrison said. Though the eldest turned 81 in March 2006, the Boot Scootin’ Grannies keeps its members young at heart.

“We have 16 active and three inactive members right now,” Morrison said. “I know I wouldn’t survive without the girls, they are my support group. That becomes more and more important the older you get.”