{"id":15481,"date":"2016-10-12T16:49:42","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T20:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=15481"},"modified":"2016-10-19T16:16:59","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T20:16:59","slug":"burning-up-the-dance-floor-sets-north-american-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/burning-up-the-dance-floor-sets-north-american-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Burning up the dance floor sets North American record"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite his age, young A.J. considers himself a proud \u201cveteran.\u201d
\nBorn with osteogenesis imperfecta, a condition which causes very brittle bones, he endures several broken bones each year, making some activities loved by boys his age out of the question.
\nThanks to Easter Seals, however, these activities are now very much possible.
\n\u201cAt other camps, I have not been allowed to do certain activities because the staff would be worried I would break a bone, so I never thought I would stay overnight at a camp,\u201d said A.J., this year\u2019s Easter Seals Ambassador. \u201cNow I am a camp veteran!\u201d
\nOver 50 potential veterans are now set to join A.J.\u2019s ranks after local community leaders laced up their dancing shoes and hit the dance floor at The Manor at Carrying Place last week, raising nearly $90,000 to send children like A.J. to summer camp \u2013 a North American fundraising record for the charity\u2019s Dancing With The Easter Seals Stars program.
\nDancing With The Easter Seals stars brings together community leaders with professional dancers for a night of fun all in the name of helping kids achieve their full potential. Here in Aurora and Newmarket, our leaders were paired up with Patrick Derry, Kelly Stacey, and Anastasia Trutneva, co-owners of Aurora\u2019s Artistica Ballroom Dance Studio, and put in hours of sweat \u2013 and maybe a few good tears \u2013 to entertain the packed house and the careful scrutiny of judges, including former mayor Tim Jones.
\nTaking home the coveted Judge\u2019s Choice award was fitness instructor Andrea Peterson, wife of Newmarket-Aurora MP Kyle Peterson, who the Artistica instructors praised for her \u201chigh energy level.\u201d
\n\u201cShe literally laughs hysterically through the entire routine,\u201d they said. \u201cShe is constantly breaking out in random booty-shaking out of nowhere. She may be little, but good things come in small packages.\u201d
\nRepresenting Aurora in the competition were former businessperson and avid volunteer Brian North and realtor Lindsay Strom.
\n\u201cBrian, the seemingly angelic and sweet man, can be seen bribing and buttering up all the judges,\u201d said the Artistica team, referencing the tongue-in-cheek social media videos and photos each contestant put out to raise awareness of the competition. \u201cBrian is the elder of the group and likes to point that out to us on a regular basis. Brian gets all the bonus points for being super-positive about this whole experience.\u201d
\nIn addition to the bonus points, he also took home the Fred & Ginger Award for his fancy footwork. Lindsay, on the other hand, got the trophy for Best Technique.
\n\u201cLindsay got so excited when she heard the song she was dancing her Peabody to she couldn\u2019t concentrate enough to practice her rhumba anymore,\u201d said Artistica, who donated approximately 130 lessons, 100 hours of time, the equivalent to $15,000 worth of instruction, to the cause. \u201cShe jumped into this later than anyone, so she really impressed us with her optimistic energy.\u201d
\nWhile Ms. Peterson rose to the top, she was joined in the top three by businesspeople and volunteers Tony De Pede, who took home Best Energy, and Nikki Pett, who was named \u201cMost Passionate.\u201d
\nAlso recognized were Newmarket graphic designer Rob Clark with Best Entertainment, former Newmarket councillor Chris Emanuel with Best Creativity, and videographer Jennifer Buchanan, who was named \u201cMost Sassy.\u201d
\nBut, what was A.J.\u2019s verdict? \u201cThey were pretty good!\u201d
\n\u201cYou guys rock,\u201d he said, announcing their fundraising achievement. \u201cAs an Easter Seals Ambassador, I have the opportunity to help bring awareness to kids with physical disabilities but, at the same time, I also want people to know that we are not so different from anyone else. We want to be able to go to different places, have friends, participate in different activities, and be the best that we can be.
\n\u201c[In my first year at camp] I saw my cabin and bed I was pumped up and excited already. I was going to be away from my parents for 10 days! I went rock climbing, swimming, exploring nature, camped out, tried archery and so much more, but my favourite was camping out and exploring. I have learned some new skills like how to set the fire wood, how to put marshmallows in the fire and even how to set up our tents. We sang camp songs and told stories around the camp fire and I learned to do things as much as I could. I learned to be more independent.\u201d
\nThe aspiring software developer added: \u201cWhen my parents picked me up I said I wished I could stay for longer. They were so surprised. I mean, I missed my parents but it was so much fun knowing I can do so much without them. My parents were so proud of me and, of course, I had to go back again. Easter Seals and people like you makes it possible for kids like me to succeed. Thank you for your help in believing in us.\u201d
\nEvent emcee \u2013 and 2015 contestant \u2013 Steve Hinder told the crowd since its inception locally last year Dancing with the Easter Seals Stars Aurora-Newmarket has since grown to one of York Region\u2019s \u201cpremiere\u201d fundraising event.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community leaders put on their dancing shoes and hit the floor with local professional dancers to raise a whopping $90,000 for disabled kids. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2016-10-13-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-41H","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 01:34:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}