Central Pennsylvania Dance Workshop takes a ‘holiday vacation’

The Central Pennsylvania Dance Workshop will present its annual show Dec. 19 at The State Theatre.

Director Jill Brighton said that while the show is holiday themed, there will be some things that the audience is not expecting.

“We like to have a theme for our performances,” Brighton said. “While it is the holiday season, we try to be non-denominational. We have students, both children and adults, of all faiths. We try not to just focus on Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or anything specific like that. ‘Holiday Vacation’ is very loosely defined — any destination that someone would choose to go on vacation to, whether it be real or fictional.”

The performance will take audience members to Ireland, Hollywood and New York City, but also to outer space, through time and the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ piece that Brighton describes as a mini ballet.

The workshop hosts a big event every December, but this year’s show promises to be something very special.

“We (always) have a school show in December,” Brighton said. “Typically, it doesn’t include all of our classes, but we’re lucky enough to get a date in The State Theatre this December, so we’ve included more pieces than usual. About half of our classes are for adults. We’re right in downtown State College, so we get a lot of Penn State Students both undergrad and graduate students. We also get, what I refer to as more ‘mature’ members, not to say college students aren’t mature!”

Brighton started dancing at a very young age, though it wasn’t necessarily love at first pirouet.

“When I was four, my mother enrolled me in a dance class,” she said. “I was an only child at that point and she thought it would be good for socializing. Little did she know it would become my career. I was pretty shy and actually sat on the bench and watched all the other kids for about half of the semester. I didn’t really take to it right away, but I’ve done it my whole life since, so obviously it speaks to something in me.”

With a heavy musical theater influence, Brighton’s classes have a more modern focus.

“I was just watching a bunch of clips of Bob Fosse’s, and while he’s not necessarily my favorite, I really enjoy his work,” she said. “I also do a lot of musical theater choreography as well, and Fosse is obviously huge. Predominantly at the Central Pennsylvania Dance Workshop I teach modern dance and ballet.”

The Central Pennsylvania Dance Workshop keeps Brighton very busy. When she’s not teaching a class, she’s most likely busy doing one of her several other jobs at the academy.

“I can’t imagine what I’d be doing other than dance,” Brighton said. “One of the great things about being the director of the Central Pennsylvania Dance Workshop and one of the not-so-great things about being director at the same time is that I’m also in charge of publicity, bookkeeping, the hiring, the student recruitment, etc. I’m doing all the administration as well, so it keeps me occupied. It helps make the teaching and the choreography be even more of a joy.”

Brighton promises a diverse, expansive performance at The State Theatre. Students and faculty of all ages will be performing.

“Tickets are very inexpensive, and you will get to see a very broad spectrum of ages,” Brighton said. “From five or six years old up to adults, you’ll get to see a variety of styles: ballet, modern, jazz, tap, hip-hop — the list goes on. We have a variety of levels like the little kids who are just starting out all the way up to the faculty who will be performing a piece that I choreographed. We have our student performing company, ‘The Fraser Street Dancers’ doing two pieces plus our advanced younger children, ‘The Children’s Ensemble’ will be doing the Alice in Wonderland bit. So, you’ll get to see a lot of different levels and styles and ages.”

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Central Pennsylvania Dance Workshop takes a ‘holiday vacation’."