It was a gala night of dance, all in support of a number of good causes, as Ballroom Blitz was held in Yorkton Saturday.
The event was fashioned after the popular ‘Dancing with the Stars’. In this case eight local celebrities were paired with a dance instructor, and the duos have been practicing for months.
Last night they hit the Nexera Flexihall stage for a ‘dance-off’ with top spot based on how much money they raised for their chosen charity based on three rounds; money raised pre-event, money awarded by judges, and money donated to their charity the evening of the performance.
The charities represented were Easter Seals, KidSport, Yorkton Exhibition Association, Stars Ambulance, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Brayden Ottenbreit’s Close Cuts for Cancer, The Family Fertility Clinic and The Health Foundation.
When the dollars were tallied Lori Walsh and her ‘pro’ partner Wade Windjack were the champions raising near $27,000 for repairs to the Yorkton Exhibition Association grandstand.
Overall organizer Jason Trost said by the time the final numbers are crunched the event will have raised over $70,000 for the eight dancer charities, and the Dance Innovation Performance Troupe that will get the money from the bar for a trip for 17 dancers scheduled to attend a school in New York this summer.
Walsh said the experience was a good one.
“Absolutely it’s been a lot of fun,” she said. “... I’d do it again in a minute.”
As for the money raised for her cause, Walsh said that was only part of the reason to choose the grandstand as her charity. She said the overall project will cost a lot, and having it as part of the Ballroom Blitz raised awareness of the need in the community.
Terry Tyson, general manager at Grain Millers was partnered with Rena Stamatinos, the duo doing a tap routine to ‘Duelling Banjoes’, and ultimately finishing third.
Tyson said “it felt great,” to get through the routine smoothly. He said he was fairly confident having practiced many times, “but you just hope you don’t screw up.”
Mitch Hippsley and Meg Kotzer tried to steal the show with a rock number that had lifts and twists and twirls.
It was a lot of new moves for Hippsley, who admitted “I like to dance” but sans the acrobatics.
Kotzer said at heart “I’m a cow girl,” and initially wanted to do a two-step but one look at her partner and she recognized “he’s rock and roll.”
And, the dance came together great.
“He (Hippsley) learned 25 moves, so I was super-impressed,” said Kotzer.
Trost said from the organizer’s perspective things went well.
“Whenever you can bring the whole community together in the common goal to raise a bunch of money for different charities it’s something people will get behind,” he said.
Trost added the idea followed similar ones held in Regina and Saskatoon, but where those raised money for a single charities “we wanted to spread the wealth,” going with eight.
The key was getting the people to agree to dance. Trost said the key was getting through that “it was a charity event more than a dance competition.”
Tyson said initially he shied away from the offer to participate.
“Jason (Trost) came to me. The first time it was hell no,” he said, but added Trost was persistent.
So Tyson said he thought about why he had said no, realizing it was essentially fear.
While there are some things where turning away due to fear is wise “a chance to raise money for charity” was not one of those instances, said Tyson.
So Tyson said yes and 15-20 practices to learn tap ensued, all toward raising money for Close Cuts for Cancer.
“It’s just always been a charity I’ve always supported,” he said, adding he had his head shaved twice back in the day when he still had hair to cut.
Like Tyson, Walsh was called out of the blue to participate. She said she knew the request was going to be interesting when it started out ‘promise you won’t hang up on me’.
While admittedly dancing on stage was outside her normal comfort zone, Walsh was quick to say yes because it was about raising money for her community.
Hippsley was in his car when Trost’s call came. It was suggested he not answer but think on it, but his wife was already suggesting ‘just say yes’.
“So I said sure, I’d love to do it,” he said.
Hippsley chose to dance for Big Brothers Big Sisters, noting he has long recognized the impact the organization can have on youth. He added it was interesting it dovetailed with Kotzer’s own past in a way he was not aware of when he made his choice.
Kotzer said before the organization started locally her family had taken in a youth who lived with them, so she well-understands how family can help others.
The event was a first for Yorkton, but may not be the last.
Trost said they would need eight dance teachers and eight new celebrities, but once this year’s event can be reviewed, a second event will likely be discussed.
