Hundreds came out to the seventh annual Sheraton Celebrity Dance Off April 14th at the Sheraton Red Deer. Duane Daines and Natalie Brooks were the stars of the night, taking home the Mirror Ball award.
“I’ve got to give credit to Natalie, she rose to the occasion under adversity,” said Daines.
Brooks suffered from a leg injury, but still gave the dance her all.
Daines added that everyone won the night and that dancing is harder than it looks.
“I didn’t know there was so much stuff to it and we just free-styled out there.”
He said this was it for him when it came to his dancing career.
“I’m done, I’m retired, this is it.”
Christine Moore, founding co-chair of the Sheraton Celebrity Dance Off said the event was another hit.
“I think we had a show that really went beyond all our expectations for level of dance, the commitment of our dancers, the donors. I’m looking forward to counting the money,” she said.
So far, dancers have raised over $265,000, but Moore expects that number to be much more, with proceeds going to the Celebration Plaza for the 2019 Canada Winter Games.
“This event itself does really well and people have bought into the celebration legacy plaza, which is going to revitalize downtown and really include that area and continue to build our community.
“This is Red Deer in action and I’m so proud of all the people that said yes.”
The winner of this year’s technical dancer award went to Todd Simenson and his partner Jinelle Themig, while the most funds raised award went to Cindy Mandrusiak and Dale Tosczak.
The other dancers of the night included Carla MacLeod and David Joseph, John Young and Jody Liptak, Mellisa Hollingsworth and Michael Myroniu, Cari MacLean and Jone Lam and Troy Gillard dancing with Olya Joseph.
