The YMCA Tyrone Dance Academy has scheduled a spaghetti dinner at St. Matthew’s Social Hall on Friday, February 28 to help support its dance competition team. The menu includes: spaghetti, meatball, applesauce, roll, dessert and drinks. Special events at the dinner include: 50/50 raffle, penny raffle, silent auction and performances by the Tyrone Dance Academy competition teams.
A special table will be set up in the YMCA Monday through Thursday from 5-7 p.m. for ticket sales. Also, tickets can be obtained from any competition team member. For the dinner on Friday, take outs and deliveries will be available; 4-5 p.m. for take out; 5-7 p.m. for eat in.
“We’re trying to see if we have enough money to get a bus. That’s what we’re going to wait and see about the spaghetti dinner to see how much money we raise,” said the director of the dance academy, Lindsay Folk.
March 28-29 is the scheduled dance competition in Pittsburgh, entitled the Rising Star National Talent Competition. It is held from 9 a.m. to 12 midnight and draws more than 100 different schools for competition.
“We have five classes this year that we’re taking to Pittsburgh for the Rising Star National Talent Competition,” said Folk. “We have been practicing every week for it.”
Last year the dance academy took three groups, and this year it has expanded in numbers to five. Each group consists of approximately eight to ten girls. They train all year for the event.
The reason for the spaghetti dinner is to help raise money for a bus that would be able to transport all of the dancers to and from Pittsburgh.
“There’s four levels of awards at the competition: platinum, gold, silver and bronze awards,” explained Folk of what the dancers could win. “It’s a certain point range. All the girls walk away with something. They also do first, second and third place.”
Among the performances, one Tyrone competition group is dancing to “Saturday Night Fever,” and one is dancing to Ozzy Ozbourne’s “Mamma I’m Coming Home.” The competition teams encompass all different styles.
“I think we’ll do pretty well,” said Folk of her hopes for the girls in competition.
Folk has been an instructor at the YMCA for four years, and she also teaches at the Hollidaysburg Dance Academy. The other dance instructor at the YMCA is Annie Young.
Types of dance taught are: ballet, tap, jazz, point, lyrical and modern for students ages three to eighteen years old. There are approximately 70 students currently enrolled in the programs. Classes are held Monday through Thursday from 4-9 p.m., and some on Saturday afternoons. Open registration for classes is once in the fall, and once in January. After the competition in March, the next dance recital is tentatively scheduled for June 7 at the Tyrone Area High School Auditorium.
