{"id":24910,"date":"2019-10-10T17:59:02","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T21:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24910"},"modified":"2019-10-17T14:19:03","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T18:19:03","slug":"local-celebs-dust-off-dancing-shoes-for-annual-dancing-with-the-easter-seals-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/local-celebs-dust-off-dancing-shoes-for-annual-dancing-with-the-easter-seals-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Local celebs dust off dancing shoes for annual Dancing with the Easter Seals Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

For the last few years, Kyle Peterson has watched from\nthe sidelines as local celebrity dancers have strutted their stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he\u2019s in the thick of it, learning what it takes, and\nhas the beads of sweat on his forehead to prove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Thursday, October 10, the outgoing Member of\nParliament for Newmarket-Aurora will be one of six local celebrities to hit the\ndance floor at the Royal Venetian Mansion for the fifth annual Dancing with the\nEaster Seals Stars, the wildly popular fundraiser which has raised hundreds of\nthousands of dollars to help send kids with disabilities to camp for the\nsummer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining Mr. Peterson on the dance floor is Aurora-based business\nowner Antonella Cellini (The Artsy Baker), Joe Gorman, former pastor of Our\nLady of Grace Catholic Church and current Director of Public and Corporate\nCommunications for Humber River Hospital, realtor Matthew Miller, Patricia\nRistich of Exhale Spa & Salon, and Tracy Walter of the Newmarket Chamber of\nCommerce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past few months the sextet have been practicing\ntheir dance moves under the watchful eye of Patrick Derry, Kelly Stacey and\nAnastasia Trutneva, owners of Artistica Ballroom Dance Studios, who have been\nshepherding local celebs to dancing glory since the event\u2019s inception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has become a part of our studio now,\u201d says\nAnastasia. \u201cWe\u2019re celebrating our four-year anniversary and this will be our\nfifth time doing this event. This event has literally been with us since the\nstart of our whole coming and having it be a part of our growth just makes it\nfeel like home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, at the end of the day, what keeps them coming back\nto the floor and taking on the challenge is the cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is something we believe in and it is definitely\nsomething super-worthwhile,\u201d says Patrick. \u201cThis is something we get to do\nevery day and we have committed our lives to dancing, and when there is any way\nto help kids who don\u2019t get to experience some of these things in their lives,\nit is just wonderful. As an event in the community, it is a lot of fun, it is\ngreat to do, we get to meet a lot of wonderful people who also care about the\ncommunity, and there are just so many reasons to keep coming back to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s Dancing with the Easter Seals Stars is a\nlittle bit different than it has been in the past. This Thursday\u2019s gala will\nfeature six dancers rather than the previous eight, which has not only allowed\nthe dancers to streamline the event, but put more of a concerted focus on each\nof the celebrity dancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is going to make for a much tighter, impressive\nspectacle of a show,\u201d says Kelly, who invited The Auroran into Artistica\u2019s\nIndustrial Parkway South Studio for a sneak peak at their group dance, which,\nwithout giving too much away, featured some impressive acrobatics. \u201cI think\nthis year has a lot more challenges laid out for our dancers. We know how they\ngo through the process and I think they are going to really impress people from\nthe beginning number.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Peterson has been impressed with the dancers with\neach successive year and, now that his term as Member of Parliament has all but\nwrapped up, he jumped at the chance to participate \u2013 a commitment that was\nsolidified by visiting an Easter Seals camp near London, ON, to see first-hand\nthe funds raised in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was amazing to see what they do for the kids,\u201d says\nMr. Peterson. \u201cThe kids just get to be kids for the summer and I wanted to\ndonate my time and help them with that cause.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Gorman, who was supposed to participate in the 2018\nevent but had to bow out after hand surgery, agreed, adding, \u201cAny time you have\nthe chance to help people and raise money, I am willing to do it. Dancing is a\ngreat opportunity and we\u2019ve been having a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Gorman\u2019s fun has included tackling the foxtrot and\nthe rumba, while Mr. Peterson has been working on some swing moves and some\ntap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have great instructors, but I have seen Joe and he\nneeds a lot of work,\u201d jokes Mr. Peterson. \u201cActually, I\u2019m in the same boat as\nJoe, so we\u2019re just taking instructions the best we can and trying our best not\nto embarrass ourselves. Come out, buy a ticket, help kids be kids by enjoying a\ngood night of entertainment, food and camaraderie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on Dancing with the Easter Seals\nStars Aurora-Newmarket, including how to purchase tickets and support\nindividual dancers, visit eastersealsdancing.org\/newmarket.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outgoing MP, star baker among those vying for crown at dance-off which has raised hundreds of thousands for charity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24902,"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":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2019-10-10-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6tM","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-05 18:05:13","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\/24910","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=24910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}