Dancing With our Local Stars Detroit 2010 – Successfully Singles was quite successful at their recent fundraising event for Haiti, Dancing With Our Local Stars.
Local celebrities competed in various styles of ballroom dancing in front of a crowd of 750 people! The evening was incredibly entertaining, and 100% of the proceeds (ticket sales, silent auction, raffles, etc.) went to the American Red Cross to help in their relief efforts for the people of Haiti.
Here’s video footage of the winning performance. Please go to my facebook page to see the video of all the performances.
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It was a wonderful sight to see how willing these celebrities and professional dance instructors were in giving of their time and effort to help this cause. Some of these people had never danced before, but were very happy to do so.
Dancing With our Local Stars Detroit 2010 performers included:
Jeannette Greco Pawlowski, Mrs. Michigan
Lila Lazarus, TV Personality
Deena Centofanti, Fox 2 Health Reporter
Dr. Michael Gray, Nat’l Renowned Cosmetic Surgeon
Heather Zara, WDIV Traffic Reporter
Damara Anderson, WWJ Producer & Reporter
Natalie Sentz, WDIV Reporter
John Pompeo, WDIV Photo Journalist
Ryan Field, Fox Sports Detroit Reporter
I had many opportunities to speak with the celebrities about their training for the big night. Some only had 3 or 4 days to prepare. Others spent as much as three weeks, four days/week, three hours/day!
Dancing With our Local Stars Detroit 2010
Lila Lazarus (TV Personality):
OCM: By doing this, you’re really putting yourself out there. What made you decide to say yes?
LL: I’ve run marathons, jumped out of airplanes, swam the Straits of Mackinac but dancing in front of 750 people is way out of my comfort zone. I am flipping out! We’ve only been dancing for a week and a half so wish us luck!
Deena Centofanti (Fox2 Morning Show Host/Health Reporter):
OCM: Who was your dance instructor and how much did you practice for this?
DC: Darren Pierson from Arthur Murray in Royal Oak. He wanted to practice a lot more but I have a real time issue. We probably practiced 3 or 4 times. This does not come natural to me. I like to dance but this kind of dancing competition is way out of my comfort zone. I hope that gives me extra points with the judges (laughs)!
OCM: What made you decide to get involved with this?
DC: Honestly, the earthquake in Haiti had just happened when they called me. I think it’s a great cause! The Red Cross does so many great things. I swallowed my pride and told them I’d do it for the Red Cross and I’ll do it for Haiti. I’m excited to get it over with and I hope I don’t fall down (laughs)!
Heather Zara (WDIV Local 4 Traffic Reporter):
OCM: Are you nervous?
HZ: You know what? I don’t know if it’s nerves, I’m more anxious. I’m ready to do this. I’m excited!
OCM: How much did you practice?
HZ: We had 6 sessions, 45 minutes apiece. It was enough but I would have loved to have had 3 more lessons just to feel more comfortable but it’s so much fun!
OCM: It had to have been hard with your schedule to find the time.
HZ: Yeah, it was hard but when you’re doing things for a good cause, a charity event like this knowing it’s going to raise so many thousands of dollars… I didn’t even care. I’ve had a lot of fun being involved with this particular event.
OCM: So you weren’t nervous?
HZ: I actually used to dance with the Pistons. So I used to dance in front of 22,000 every night which was crazy. So this, to me, is not about the nerves – it’s just that I’ve never done ballroom so I feel like I’m going to fall flat on my face (laughs)!
After a fierce and thrilling competition, the judges declared the top three prize winners. Third place went to Damara Anderson, second place went to Heather Zara, and Ryan Field and his dance partner, Karla Pinet (Fred Astaire Dance Studio’s dance director) won the first place trophy.
After the win, I spoke with Ryan Field (Fox Sports Detroit Reporter)
OCM: How does it feel to win the event?
RF(FSN Sportscaster/Reporter): It feels great! There were so many people that turned out and it was all for a great cause. It was a great night. After just 6 lessons I never would have thought I would win this thing but, hey, it’s funny how things work out sometimes.Congrats to the winners, and praises to Successfully Single for helping a great cause by putting on such an enjoyable evening full of entertainment.
