Local celebrities are waltzing their way to the fifth installment of a dance competition to benefit charities.
Dancing with the Williamsburg Stars will be held March 1 at William & Mary’s Phi Beta Kappa Hall. The selected community members will train with a professional dancer before competing in front of a live audience and panel of judges.
This year’s Stars are:
- Sinan Aritamur, Belk
- Kristin Baum, Guernsey Tingle Architects
- Juan Carillo, Juan’s Cantina & LaTolteca
- Bridgit Charlton, B-Defined
- Dr. Steve Cummings, Sentara Urgent Care
- Jeremy L. Findlay, J. Lloyd Builder, Inc.
- Cecilia Firstenberg, Firstenberg Consulting, LLC
- Bob Pinto, Pinto Chiropractic
- Brian Skinner, TowneBank
- Vickie Skutans, Capital Carpet
- Nan Strader, Virginia Ventures
- Bonny Young, Tide Radio/WYDaily.com
Front: Vickie Skutans, Bonny Young, Kristin Baum, Nan Strader
Back: Dr. Steve Cummings, Sinan Aritamur, Jeremy L. Findlay, Bridgit Charlton
Professional dancers are from 7 Cities Ballroom and Williamsburg Indoor Sports Complex (Williamsburg), ArtInspired Studios and Country Bootleggers (Yorktown), and A Step Above in Virginia Beach and Amy’s Dance Studio (Newport News).
In addition to traditional couples’ ballroom dance, there will be group numbers and commentary from the three judges.
Although there is no official prize for the winner, the promise of eternal glory is enough of a motivating factor for most participants.
“After five years we’re amazed at the continued momentum of this event. There’s still so much anticipation and interest,” said Ken Johnston, event co-chair, in a news release Monday.
Dancing with the Williamsburg Stars benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Virginia Peninsula and Literacy for Life at the Rita Welsh Adult Learning Center. Last year’s event raised nearly $90,000.
“As long as our community wants us to bring it back and we earn money for the organizations – we’ll work hard to turn out a finer show each year” Johnston said.
Tickets go on sale in Jan. and can be purchased at the Phi Beta Kappa box office on Jamestown Road, by phone at 757-221-2674, or online.
For additional information contact Ayanna King, Big Brothers Big Sisters, at 757-253-0676 or Joan Peterson, Literacy for Life, at 757-221-3325.
