PORT ANGELES — After 26 years in Port Angeles sharing the joy of dance with students of all ages, the Port Angeles Dance Center will present its final performance at the Peninsula College Little Theater at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Admission at the door of the Little Theater on the campus at 1502 E. Lauridesen Blvd. will be $12 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. Children 6 and younger will be admitted free.
A reception is planned after the show at the Pirate Union Building (PUB).
Founder and director Mary Marcial, 62, announced her retirement to her current students — about 50 — earlier this month.
“I could not be more grateful to my students for their energy, openness and dedication; to the parents for allowing me to share my love of dance with their children; and the Port Angeles community for the years of support,” she said.
“The center was founded on the belief that every student, from every background, can experience and benefit from the self-expression, discipline and fun of dance, and I could not be more proud to say that we certainly accomplished that for many kids.”
Marcial began teaching dance at the Clallam County YMCA in 1990 before founding the center first at the Elks Lodge and then relocating to the upper floor of the historic Port Angeles Fire Station on Lincoln Street; Bonnie’s Bakery was below.
The center moved to its current location at Front Street in 2008 when it outgrew its previous home.
Many of Marcial’s students have continued to keep dance a part of their lives, and some have made careers in the field, said Marcial’s daughter, Adriana Marcial.
Graduates of Port Angeles Dance Center (PADC) have gone on to study dance at the college and graduate school levels, manage professional dance companies and teach dance themselves, she said.
The final spring performance, “Gotta Dance,” will feature a wide range of ages and styles, including jazz, ballet and pointe, with choreography by Marcial and dance center instructor Sarah Aubin, a PADC graduate.
“Gotta Dance” is the culmination of the current students’ work throughout the past year.
The performance will also feature original solos by two other PADC graduates, Elizabeth Helwick and Cami Ortloff.
Helwick is a recent graduate of the University of Idaho, graduating with a degree in dance, and Ortloff is a recent graduate of the Gelsey Kirkland Ballet Academy in New York City.
Both are performing in her mother’s honor, said Adriana Marcial.
A retirement party for Marcial will be held later this summer, her daughter said.
