Fifty Years of “Shaping Lives through Dance”
 
HARRISBURG, PA - The Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet will celebrate its 50th Anniversary on July 2nd at Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts with its third, biennial Stars of CPYB Gala. The performance will showcase the exceptional talent of currently-dancing alumni trained by CPYB founder and Artistic Director, Marcia Dale Weary and her faculty. This event will bring dancers from many of the most prestigious ballet companies in the country together on one stage; each professional dancer will perform a favorite solo or pas de deux with a guest partner featuring new choreography or classic works of the ballet. CPYB alumnus and assistant to the ballet-master-in-chief of the New York City Ballet, Sean Lavery, will be host of the evening’s festivities.
 
CPYB has long been recognized as one of the top training grounds for classical ballet in the world and is the Resident Ballet Company at Harrisburg’s Whitaker Center. The following professionally-dancing alumni are currently scheduled to honor Ms. Weary: Lia Cirio (Boston Ballet); Mishic Corn (Cincinnati Ballet); Lara Bricker (Louisville Ballet); Callie Manning, Bruce Thornton (Miami City Ballet); Jennifer Miller, Jennifer Provins (Milwaukee Ballet); Ashley Bouder, Adam Hendrickson, Abi Stafford, Jonathan Stafford, Allen Peiffer (New York City Ballet); Carrie Imler, Noelani Pantastico, Kara Zimmerman (Pacific Northwest Ballet); Jamie Rae Walker (Paul Taylor II); Zach Hench (Pennyslvania Ballet); Deborah Wingert, formerly with New York City Ballet; Suzanne Stellpflug, formerly with Peoria Ballet; and Sherri LeBlanc, formerly with New York City and San Francisco Ballets.
 
CPYB alumni will also dance throughout CPYB’s 50th Anniversary season. Currently selected to perform are San Francisco Ballet principal Tina LeBlanc and Vanessa Zahorian, among others. CPYB’s 50th Anniversary Season will be announced at the Gala.
 
In August 2001, The New York Times dance critic Joseph Carman wrote about CPYB: London, Paris, St. Petersburg, and New York are well known for their first-rate ballet academies, training many of the best dancers in the classical form. Add to that list Carlisle, Pa., a town with fewer than 20,000 people and a modest economy driven by state government jobs and the defense industry... Marcia Dale Weary and her Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet have produced dancers well known in the ballet world.
 
In addition to the Gala performance, CPYB is holding its first Alumni Reunion on Sunday, July 3rd at its Carlisle studios on the campus of Dickinson College, inviting all of its former students who have been taught by Marcia Dale Weary since 1955.
 
Gala tickets will go on sale May 15th, 2005 at the Whitaker Center box office, 717-214-ARTS. The Saturday, July 2nd 7:00pm performance will be preceded by a reception and silent auction beginning at 5:00pm at the Hilton Ballroom. All tickets are $80 and will benefit the educational programs of the CPYB. A Gala Banquet with the professional dancers, again at the Hilton Ballroom, will follow the performance. Individual and corporate sponsorships are available.

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