Woo! I am still in a daze after last night’s amazing event. We set a new fundraising record of $248,013 of which Dean raised over $70,000! His total made us the People’s Choice award winners! I am so proud of all his hard work both on and off the dance floor. He and his wife Ashley (Daniel’s partner in 2012 when they won People’s Choice) are a power couple in the best possible way: boundless positive energy, totally down to earth, always ready to “git ‘er dun.” So that’s just what we did! After the jump, a full rundown of the evening’s adventures + some pics!
Category: faaaaaaaame!
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Dancing Near the Stars
Last night, Daniel and I got a special treat: we got to take a master class from Tony Dovolani of Dancing With the Stars fame. He was in Atlanta rehearsing with his DWTS season 18 partner NeNe Leakes (Real Housewives of Atlanta) at Academy Ballroom and decided to offer a class. Being star-struck goofballs and avid DWTS fans, we said yes to the class as soon as we heard about it! Tony is very nice and approachable, very funny, and an excellent teacher. He focused on Latin/Rhythm technique and styling with an emphasis on balance and using energy.
Last night was the cast party for the 2014 edition of Dancing Stars of Central Georgia, the Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser that Daniel and I first participated in back in 2012. This year I was asked to rejoin the cast at the special request of one of the stars. We all convened at the Blacksmith Shop last night to officially meet our partners for the first time. My star is Dean Copelan, a vice-president at SunTrust Bank and the husband of Ashley Copelan with whom Daniel danced in 2012 and won the People’s Choice trophy for top fund-raiser. I am very excited to be partnered with Dean! As soon as I found out he was my star, I knew exactly what I wanted to choreograph for us. He is totally game and up for anything: the ideal partner!
We have already agreed on a no-trash-talking, totally victory-focused approach. Go, Team Deanra!
WGXA is once again serving as a presenting sponsor so we got to appear on their newscast last night:
Looking for a chance to show off your swing moves, help promote Macon tourism, and become a video star? The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame brings us this news: On Friday, January 24 the Macon-Bibb Convention and Visitors Bureau is shooting a new video for use in their Visitors’ Center and looking for dancers to appear in it. It will be titled “What’s Shakin’ in Macon” and the dance scene will be a large group dance to Otis Redding’s “Shake,” this song rightchea:
They will be shooting at 5:00 p.m. in Cherry Street Plaza, and anyone can show up and participate. The CVB is offering refreshments and “Macon gifts” to everyone who joins in. You can call 478-743-1074 or email tbush@visitmacon.org with questions. We will definitely be there . . . will you?
Dancing Stars of Central Georgia is the gift that keeps on giving! Yesterday evening we all got emailed a YouTube link for this “Thank You” ad that WGXA created:
The little clips in the ad look so good that we can’t wait to see the DVDs with the complete video of our performances. We’re supposed to receive those at the cast party the first week of June, so stay tuned!
The first Dancing Stars of Central Georgia was a huge success for the DLDancers team! We didn’t bring home all the trophies but Team Dashley crushed their fundraising goal and thereby won the People’s Choice award–Ashley raised over $100,000 all by herself, making a huge contribution to the overall total of $205,962! Everybody was amazed when that final number came up on the screens last night. The total is incredible in itself, but even more so considering that this is the first time Alzheimer’s Association of Georgia has done a Dancing Stars event in this region. We are the first in the state to sell out the inaugural event and to exceed our fundraising goal the first year. Now my only thought is “How are we going to top it next year?”
Fox24, presenting sponsor for Dancing Stars of Central Georgia, has been doing profiles of the “stars” in Dancing Stars for the past several Fridays. Jack’s turn came yesterday:
We also got this incredibly moving video emailed to us as an important reminder of what this event is really all about:
No matter who wins the trophies tonight, we will all go home knowing we made a difference! The event is sold out and we’ve already raised over $148,000 but it’s not too late to donate. Every dollar is needed and every dollar helps! You can still vote for Jackson and me (support the underdog) or vote for Daniel and Ashley (back a winner)!
Last-minute prep is under way here at DLDancers HQ. Daniel has gone out to buy a belt; I’m about to fix some loose stitching on my costume and then paint my nails. We are heading to the City Auditorium at 4:00 for a final practice, then hair & makeup, a quick appearance at the cocktail hour, and SHOWTIME! Everybody wish us merde!
Check it out, dear readers! Last Friday I was on NewsCentral “Live @ 5” with host Kenny B and fellow guests Karen Kinsler (development director for Alzheimer’s Association of Central Georgia) and Portia Lake (NewsCentral anchor and “star” dancer for Dancing Stars) talking about Dancing Stars of Central Georgia. Be sure to watch all the way to the end when I lay some trash talk on Portia!
Check out NewsCentral’s profile of Ashley Copelan (1/2 of our own Team Dashley) and a member of the competition, Steve Welsh and Pilar Wilder:
Also, in an awesome coincidence, this afternoon we got an email from the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame soliciting extras for a movie about Jackie Robinson that will be shooting in Macon this summer. It’s called 42, it stars Harrison Ford, and Jackson Walker (1/2 of our own Team LaJack) appears as a reporter named “Jimmy Powers.” Daniel is already signed up to be an extra!
All this fame comes at a good time; there are only 3 weeks left till the event. Just enough time to polish our routines, get our costumes together, and most importantly max out the fundraising and awareness. As Ashley said in our profile, if we sell out the City Auditorium we will beat all the other Georgia Dancing Stars events at fundraising AND be the first event to sell out in its inaugural year. We are already so close to that sellout that if you still need a ticket, now is the time! If you can’t attend but you still want to support the cause, kick in with a donation in any amount!
Click here to purchase a ticket and support the star of your choice — Click here to donate to Ashley Copelan — Click here to donate to Jackson Walker
Thanks, everybody!
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WE R FAMUS SHAG DNCRS
Say it with me: Not really! But last night Daniel and I went to the Macon Shag Club (motto: “It’s Not What It Sounds Like”) for the first time and were very warmly welcomed. Shag is a much-loved dance in the Carolinas and the South more generally; we have not yet begun to learn it so we really went just to check out the scene. One of the club members, Andy, also comes to a lot of other local dance events and was very excited to see us. He said he couldn’t stand the fact that we weren’t dancing and I had to tell him that we don’t know how to shag at all. Half-seriously I said “If you can get the DJ to play a tango, we’ll dance to it.” I thought he’d demur because the tango is about as far from the shag as you can get, but he led me up to the DJ, introduced us, and had me pick out a tango from the DJ’s song list. And that’s how we ended up doing an impromptu tango demonstration at Jock & Jill’s sports bar, being videoed by the club’s leader, and appearing on the Macon Shag Club’s page on Facebook. Do we get extra glamour points for my socks and Daniel’s Wake Forest t-shirt?