The Carolina Dance Academy Clarendon Christmas Spectacular began two years ago.
“I wanted to provide a community event centered on the Holiday season as well as a way to provide my students an opportunity to perform,” said owner and operator of Carolina Dance Academy Dixie Elliott. “I really just wanted to bring a Christmas Show to Manning for everyone to enjoy.”
The Spectacular is currently performed every other year but Elliott hinted that this could change to every year. The show is centered on a theme. The first year the theme was ‘Sweet Christmas Time’ and the stage was decorated with lots of gingerbread and candy canes.
“Choosing the theme is totally random for me,” said Elliott. “But because the date of this year’s show correlates with the beginning of Christmas vacation for many of our local schools that my students attend we adopted a 'Christmas Vacation' theme based loosely on the 1989 movie 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation'."
This is the one show that the dance academy does during the year that every student performs in, dance and gymnastics.
“We will have over two hundred students performing and it is going to be awesome,” said Elliott. “My students are very giving and are always looking to incorporate charitable events into our shows so this year we are an official drop off center for Toys for Tots.”
Toys for Tots is a program run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve which distributes toys to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas.
"Unfortunately our deadline for donations is December 13th to ensure all toys get delivered and our show isn't until the 19th of December," said Elliott. "So for anyone wanting to donate please bring a new unwrapped toy to the studio."
Carolina Dance Academy is located at 205 S. Mill Street Manning. The Clarendon Christmas Spectacular will be presented at the Weldon Auditorium Thursday December 19th at 6:30 pm.
Tickets are available for purchase now at the Carolina Dance Academy for ten dollars per ticket or at a discount of eight dollars per ticket with a donation to Toys for Tots.
