The dance floor was on fire at this year’s Sheraton Celebrity Dance Off which took place Friday night at the Sheraton Hotel in Red Deer.
Community leaders partnered with professional dancers to strut their stuff, all for a good cause.
Local celebrity Karen Goranson and her dance partner Dale Tosczak won the Mirror Ball Award after a spectacular dance on Friday night.
This year’s event was in support of the Central Alberta Child Adovcacy Centre and the Central Alberta Sexual Assault Centre and more than $500,000 was raised even before the event got underway.
“From the SCDO inception, there has been a dream that more than one organization would work together, that we could bring more awareness to great causes, that we could all learn more about each other and work together. That’s the beauty of community. This year our dream came true,” said Co-Chair Christine Moore. “We selected our two partners because of their strengths and shared vision. It’s a unique situation because we have 30 years of history, of hard work serving the community in the Central Alberta Sexual Support Assault Centre, combined with the vision of something better for Central Alberta in the Child Advocacy Centre, both organizations embracing a shared vision to serve vulnerable children and families.
“From a logistical side, it’s made our event bigger because we have the supporters of both organizations, and we have engaged another city, Calgary, with three of our celebrity dancers. They have brought a whole wealth of support, in fundraising and participation, and in building awareness for our causes. It has definitely raised the profile of our event! We’ve made many new friends in Calgary.”
This year’s pairings saw defending Mirror Ball Award winner Natalie Brooks with Dustin Snider, Brett Speight with Sherri Ryckman, Bryan Senn with Colleen Manning, Tosczak with Goranson, David Joseph with Jodie Schreiner, Jena Smith with Sheldon Kennedy, Jody Liptak with Jesse Wallin and Olya Joseph with Rollie Cyr.
Stay tuned for more details as well as a slideshow of the event.
– Fawcett
