Recital will feature Sharon's Dance Studio students

June 05, 2008 01:58 pm

— BY RUTH RICE
RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM
With tap, jazz, ballet and hip-hop, Sharon’s Dance Studio has had Johnstown moving to the music since 1962.
The studio’s 45th annual recital will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday at Westmont Middle School, 827 Diamond Blvd., Westmont.
The recital will feature Sharon Yoder’s students who have taken classes from September through June.
The theme will be songs from television and the movies.
“Each class will dance – ballet, tap, jazz or hip-hop,” Yoder said.
“There will be soloists.”
A senior company production of “Boom, Boom, Shake the Room” will include hip-hop and taps, and seven graduating seniors will dance to “A Friend Like Me.”
Senior company dancers are Evelyn Bloom, Kayla Causer, Amanda Duncan, Danielle Geiser, Kayla Grush, Katie Lynch, Victoria Hazlett, Halley Matcho, Emily Metzger, Nikki Paratore, Elizabeth Prociuk, Ali Reynolds, Cassie Smith, Stephanie Summits, Kierston Szczur and Lauren Wilson-Alt.
The junior company production will feature songs such as “Wake Up Little Suzy,” “Tutti Fruiti” and “Locomotion.”
The girls will team up with the dads for “Blue Suede Shoes.”
“They’ll have poodle skirts, and the dads will wear jeans and shirts to match the skirts,” Yoder said.
Junior company dancers are Olivia Bridges, Sadie Carney, Brandon Grasso, Chelsie Jimerson, Megan McKinney, Breanna Meyer, Alexandra Nash, Sydney Ruis, Sammie Smith, Mikayla Wyrwas, Krista Bach, Laura Bach, Kierston Baird, Kallie Beard, Madelyn Bridges, Maura Clark, Nicole Cramer, Cassie Griffith, Brianna Hamilton, Alayna Kalinyak, Brenna Kolesar, Kristie Lynch, Madison McLaughlin, Alana Pecora, Madalina Price, Shay Roth, Morgan Ruis, Abby Selan and Kayla Vizza.
Yoder plans to open the recital with “My Guy,” a number featuring the girls and the dancing dads that was choreographed for an appearance at Walt Disney World in Orlando last year.
There are 17 dancing dads and 10 dancing moms. Some have children who are students and others are students themselves.
The dancing moms will do a tap routine to “Hairspray.”
Yoder has seen second- and third-generation students at her studio at 1838 Goucher St., and two of her former students have come back as instructors.
Wendy Gordon will celebrate 30 years with Yoder, and Jennifer Rovan will mark 27.
Yoder’s Sophisticates have become regular participants in Johnstown’s Halloween and Christmas parades.
They have performed Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” with umbrellas and bounced basketballs as they danced.
“We like to do something unique,” Yoder said. “Last year when we did the basketballs, we had the dads on a float as referees and the younger ones as cheerleaders.”

Productions
What: Annual recital by Sharon’s Dance Studio.
When: 7 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Westmont Middle School, 827 Diamond Blvd.
Cost: Free.