INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A sold out crowd packed Riverside Theatre Saturday night to cheer on their favorite star dancers at the seventh annual Dancing with Vero’s Stars to benefit the Indian River County Healthy Start Coalition, in the end raising more than $322,000 for our littlest citizens.
“Every year it gets better,” said Brenda Lloyd, event co-chair of the glitzy affair with Dr. Glenn Tremml. “The stakes have gotten so high. I think we are not going to get any higher and then every year we do.”
Lloyd believes the event has especially benefitted from its change of venue to Riverside Theatre. It is also thanks to hours upon hours of hard committee work, culling a widely diverse list of roughly 100 suggested dancers down to ten perfect stars who can both dance and fundraise.
Emcee Hamp Elliott of Treasure and Space Coast Radio kept things moving throughout the evening, interjecting humorous quips and comments to both judges and dancers.
This year’s judges, who critiqued the stars and their professional dancers were Peter Pover, Jennifer Patty and Dee Rose-Imbro.
The 80 hours of dance practice put in by pediatrician, Dr. Susie O’Toole and Joe Wynes clearly showed in their fun, energetic East Coast Swing, danced to Jerry Lee Lewis’ Splish Splash.
Her Susie fans, dressed in saddle shoes and poodle skirts, waved signs and cheered enthusiastically.
Bobby Sexton, founder of Orchid Island Juice Co., danced a slow, sexy Argentine Tango with the sensual Marianella Tobar.
The judges rewarded Sexton’s concentration and deliberate footwork with three paddle scores of nine.
Lee Olsen, manager of Waldo’s Restaurant, and partner Shari Tessier danced a powerful combination of Argentine Tango, Paso Doble and Fusion earning him the moniker of ‘The Matador’ from Patty.
He shared that as an added benefit of the dance practices, he lost 37 pounds.
Deb Polackwich, children’s mentor and jewelry designer, performed a demanding Cha Cha with Barry Trammell.
Despite a couple of minor missteps with difficult lifts and throws, the judges applauded her efforts, recognizing the dance’s complicated choreography.
Tom Lowther, funeral director and Mosquito Control director, played a demonic figure to partner Amy Trammel, whose otherworldly counterpart was complemented by white opaque contact lenses.
He amazed the audience by lifting and holding her aloft in a dark, powerful Contemporary number that won perfect scores across the board from the judges.
Eric Flowers, Sergeant of Public Affairs at the IRC Sheriff’s Office, performed a touchingly beautiful Contemporary number with Beth Shestack to Say Something, earning three 10s and a roar of approval from the crowd.
The dance portrayed a domestic violence relationship, connecting its choreography with the mission of Healthy Start to break the cycle of abuse.
Andy White, Fiduciary Officer at Northern Trust Bank, and Karren Walter lightened the mood considerably with their fun Dancing through the Decades routine, opening with Dirty Dancing’s famed final dance, and continuing with dances to Blue Swede Shoes, YCMA, Michael Jackson’s Bad and this year’s hit, Till the Love Runs Out.
Karen Franke, station manager at Treasure & Space Coast Radio, received a perfect score for a West Coast Swing dance with Joe Tessier. The self-proclaimed selfie queen even stopped stopping mid-way for a selfie portrait with the audience, before continuing with dance moves full of attitude.
When asked what she had hoped to accomplish, Franke playfully gave a standard pageant reply, quipping, “I hoped to spread world peace.”
Jan Mason Cilento, owner of Visage Hair and Nail Designs, and partner Robert Scott performed slow Cabaret Fox Trot all the while lip synching the old double entendre Ruth Brown blues song, If I Can’t Sell It, I Will Sit On It, earning the fourth perfect score of the evening for a performance deemed by Pover to be worthy of a theatrical stage.
Jackie Savell, owner of Trusted Insurance Professionals, and partner Oleg Dimitrov finished with an exciting and entertaining Cha Cha to Uptown Funk.
They had some solid dance moves that really got the crowd going and earned a ten and two nines, with the audience booing its disagreement over the nines.
Combining dance scores and fundraising, where every dollar was a point in the dancer’s favor, the coveted mirror ball was presented to this year’s Dancing with Vero Stars winners, Karen Franke and Joe Tessier; Franke was also the top fundraiser, totaling donations of $50,860.
The first runner up was Jackie Savelle and second runner up was Andy White.
The dancer who raised the highest online donations was Deb Polackwich, and the four who tied for first place as dancers were Lowther, Flowers, Franke and Mason Cilento.
The mission of the Healthy Start Coalition is to protect and educate the approximate 1,200 pregnant mothers-to-be who give birth to their children in Indian River County each year.
HSC programs and pregnancy screens are available to 100 percent of local mothers and their babies regardless of age, financial status or educational level.
“What a wonderful community we live in, with the giving hearts of the people who live in this community,” said HSC executive director Kathleen Cain.
“The ultimate winners for tonight are our youngest citizens, our babies, and I want to thank you from the depth of my heart.”
051015 DWVS kc from Vero News on Vimeo.