Cambria dance a ‘Celebration,’ but next one will be a ‘Thriller’

The Cambria Farmers Market is known for its edible goodies, but if you happened to stop by the Veterans Memorial Building parking lot on the Friday before Labor Day, you might have gotten a taste of a different sort of treat: one for the eyes and ears.

That afternoon — and again during the Pinedorado festivities — Dancers by the Sea showed off their moves to the tune of “Celebration,” the 1980 hit by Kool and the Gang.

It was the latest project from the group headed by Cambria dancer/choreographer/fitness instructor Deanna Voelker, now in its fourth year.

“The group has now grow to about 35 to 40 people,” Voelker said. “We have become a family of dancers. I think that the one thing we like the most is the element of surprise and seeing people smile and enjoy our energy. I think it’s good for the younger generation to see older people out there dancing and having fun. It does leave an impression.”

Common bond

The group includes men and women from age 31 to 77, Voelker said.

“Some are cancer survivors, some have hidden illnesses, some are busy professionals and some are retired, but our common bond is that we all want to dance and see people smile when we perform.”

Each new member of the group earns a sterling silver necklace with a charm on it when he or she performs that first dance. A new charm is added with each performance, up to a maximum of seven.

Voelker said she starts the group on the process of learning a new dance in June, when she posts a tutorial on YouTube for different eight-count sequences. The dancers have a month to go over the steps at home; then, in July, they begin meeting twice a week to learn the dance together.

“This week was quick,” she said. “Everyone seemed to have it mastered by the first week of August.”

Group’s evolution

The group began in 2013 after a conversation with Cambria Scarecrow Festival founder Taylor Hilden, Voelker said, as they were discussing ideas for the festival. Voelker suggested a flash mob to the tune of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” — capitalizing on the Halloween theme.

They learned the dance in about a month, and it has become a tradition since then. Dancers by the Sea will be doing it again this year. But that doesn’t mean it’s exactly the same.

“This is our fourth year, and the choreography is getting more challenging every year,” Voelker said.

The group has been expanding its performances, having danced during a party last year at Broken Earth Winery. The dancers have performed at the Hearst Castle Visitor Center and, for the past two years, have added Cambria’s December Hospitality Night — a holiday-themed Main Street event put on by the Chamber of Commerce — to its calendar. Voelker said a couple of more winery appearances of the “Thriller” dance are in the works for this year.

Although the performances are often announced ahead of time, some people who haven’t heard about them find themselves pleasantly surprised by the unexpected treat.

“People smile and enjoy the element of surprise when the music starts up,” Voelker said.

Voelker’s background

Voelker herself said she has been dancing since she was 4 and, 10 years later, successfully auditioned for a ballet company in Southern California. After graduating from college with a degree in speech language pathology, she auditioned for another dance company and was named its principal dancer.

She later started a dance exercise program and, during the 1980s, “did lots of choreography for community theater musicals and took up the challenge of teaching nondancers to dance.”

These days, she teaches fitness at GymOne, 1266 Tamson Drive in Cambria, where her classes include Tabata, dance fitness, adagio and Silver Sneakers.

She’s also a been a competitive runner for more than 30 years.

“I haven’t thought about the next dance yet, but I will be after Hospitality Night,” she said, saying that she’d like to add a Fourth of July performance to her group’s calendar.

“I like the music to be uplifting with lots of energy.”

Beyond that, she said, “My own personal wish is to someday put together a dance company and choreograph a series of dances — story line — that reach out to people with a message. Choreography literally means ‘dance writing,’ and to put together a story with dance would be really fulfilling.”

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 8:53 AM with the headline "Cambria dance a ‘Celebration,’ but next one will be a ‘Thriller’."