Young Dancers in Repertory celebrates 40th anniversary

The Young Dancers in Repertory studio held its 40th anniversary celebration on Thursday evening, Dec. 4, at the Bay Ridge Manor, 476 76th St.  Mayor Eric Adams issued a proclamation at City Hall heralding Dec. 4 as “Young Dancers in Repertory Day,” and Councilwoman Alexa Aviles issued and presented her proclamation citing the 40th anniversary of YDR to executive director Craig Gabrian.

Gabrian, along with his wife Carol Mezzacappa, founded the dance academy in 1985. Recognized as a non-profit 501 (c) (3) by the federal government, participants pay a moderate tuition for classes.

The main studio is located on the 2nd floor of 5602 Fifth Ave. in Sunset Park. The dance group also offers free after-school lessons to adults and children at P.S. 127, 922 78th St., and J.H.S. 201, 8010 12th Ave. Both schools are in Dyker Heights. Michael Spinner, president of Spinner Industries, is the chairman of the Board of Directors. The dance studio’s email address is www.youngdancersinrep.org

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With all the reported anti-Semitic rhetoric and protests that are taking place at colleges, and elsewhere, you would think the U.S. Postal Service would use some common sense and still issue a 2025 Hanukkah stamp. This caught our attention when we went to the Fort Hamilton Postal Station to purchase holiday stamps – secular, Christian and Hanukkah stamps – and was told they don’t have any Hanukkah stamps this year. 

So I followed up by calling  a couple of other local post offices and was told the same thing. I later learned  you can mail a request or go online to the USPS and purchase last year’s Hanukkah stamps at the new first class rate plus a handling charge. But why should you have to when religious stamps for Christians are readily available without the inconvenience of ordering them online? Additionally, by not designing a 2025 Hanukkah stamp, Jewish stamp collectors miss out on first day cancellation envelopes and there isn’t any first day of Issue ceremony by the USPS. And I guess to add insult to injury for me, and I think others, they had plenty of SpongeBob stamps available!

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I’d like to take this opportunity to which all who celebrate the Festival of Lights a Happy Hanukkah, and to our Christian readers a blessed and very Merry Christmas.