NORTH MANCHESTER – Samantha Shambarger-Deneve has been a dancer for the past 10 years. She will use the skills she has learned to perform in the annual Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade Tuesday at 9 a.m. on ABC. Shambarger-Deneve, 13, North Manchester, will march in the Walt Disney World parade and do a choreographered dance during the parade with dancers from Dance New York Style, a Leo, Ind., based dance group. She is an eighth-grader at Whitko Middle School and the daughter of Shannan and Chris Deneve. She has been a dancer since she was 3, and a student at Terri Eckert School of Dance, North Manchester, for the past five years. She also is a cheerleader at Whitko Middle School. She will perform to music from the Academy Award winning musical “Newsies” during the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade. She will perform with 500 other children from around the U.S., including 32 students from Dance New York Style. She said she is looking forward to the performance. “I enjoyed meeting others in the parade from other schools who had the same talent I did,” Shambarger-Deneve said. She said she also enjoyed meeting the cast from the Broadway musical “Newsies.” Joining the “Newsies” cast in this year’s parade will be performances by the Backstreet Boys, Lady Antebellum, Colbie Caillat, Brad Paisley, Ross Lynch, TobyMac, Phillip Phillips and Yolanda Adams, with a special appearance by Olympic gymnast Gabrielle Douglas. Shambarger-Deneve had tryouts in March in Leo to be in the Christmas parade. Her family was notified that month that she was selected for the parade. Shambarger-Deneve traveled to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and was there Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 for a taping of the parade. “Newsies” producers worked with the Dance New York Style group to choreograph the production. While she was in Florida, Shambarger-Deneve performed at the Holiday Spectacular Parade at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando Nov. 29. Shambarger-Deneve’s parade sponsors include family, friends and church members. Shambarger-Deneve’s mother, Shannan, said she is excited for her daughter and the experience will be a good resume builder. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her to perform in front of millions of people on TV,” Shannan said.
