DANVILLE, Ill. (WAND) - In a city of just under 29,000 residents, Danville, Illinois isn’t used to the spotlight.

This week, there’s a spark in the air — the kind of magic only one man could leave behind. Danville's favorite son, Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old on Dec. 13.

Inside Danville High School, theater students are honoring Van Dyke. They are rehearsing dance numbers across the same stage where a young Dick Van Dyke once performed back in the 1940s.

Long before he tap-danced across London rooftops in Mary Poppins, or soared the countryside in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," Van Dyke was a teenager discovering his love for performing right here at home.

“It means a lot to me to know that we're on a stage that he would be on too,” said senior Serenity Reid.

“It gives a lot of hope,”

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