CINCINNATI, OH – Who will be voted Cincinnati’s best celebrity dancer? Which stars have the right moves to rule the dance floor? Find out on Saturday, April 14, 2018 when the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) celebrates season twelve of its annual fundraiser Dancing for the Stars at the newly-renovated Music Hall Ballroom (1243 Elm Street, Cincinnati) to benefit CAA’s Overture Awards – the nation’s largest locally-run high school arts scholarship competition – and Arts Education Programs.
Inspired by the hit ABC-TV show Dancing with the Stars, Dancing for the Stars will feature seven Cincinnati celebrities paired with some of the area’s finest professional dancers in a competition program, at which the audience will vote for their favorite celebrity dancer. The competitive dance for the evening will be Swing, and each dance pair will have ninety seconds to woo the crowd and the judges.
Saturday, April 14, 2018
- 6:00 PM – Wine & Cheese / Meet-and-Greet Reception with the Stars and the Pros
- 6:30 PM – Dancing, Dinner by the Bite, Cash Bar
- 8:00 PM – Celebrity Dance Competition
- 10:00 PM – Dance the Night Away
Dancing for the Stars will also feature:
- Silent auction
- Dance music by guest DJ “Rockin’ Ron” Schumacher, WGRR-FM
- Pre-event reception and wine tasting
- Open dancing before and after the competition
- Lite bites provided by some of Cincinnati’s finest restaurants and caterers
- Cash bar
In addition to the winner of the dance competition, Dancing for the Stars will crown a Fundraising Champion – the celebrity dancer who raises the most revenue toward the event’s fundraising goal through table/ticket sales and donations. Fans may add a donation under their favorite celebrity’s name at the time of ticket purchase, or simply make a donation if they cannot attend the event. These direct donations (outside of the event ticket price) will help one of the fans’ favorite celebrities win the Dancing for the Stars Fundraising Champion award – which will be announced the evening of the event – and are 100% tax deductible.
Tickets are currently on sale at the following levels (a portion of the ticket price is tax-deductible):
- $150 – Patron (includes pre-event reception and two drink tickets)
- $1,500 – Corporate Table (ten Patron level tickets and a half-page program ad)
- $2,000 – Celebrity Circle Table (premium “first-row” viewing of competition area, ten Patron level tickets, full-page program ad, recognition on event signage)
RESERVATIONS AND INFORMATION:
THE STARS:
- Marcia Bowling, MD (Gynecologic Oncology, The Christ Hospital Network)
- Ryan Messer (Regional Business Director, Johnson & Johnson; Board Member, Cincinnati Public Schools)
- Renu Kotwal, MD (Psychiatry & Neurology, The Christ Hospital Network)
- Pam Kravetz (nationally-recognized artist, arts educator, and Project Manager for ArtWorks)
- Rhonda Whitaker (Director of Government & Community Relations, Duke Energy Kentucky; Chairwoman, Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce)
- John Williams (Attorney ; President, Cincinnati Bar Association)
- Steve Valerius (President Individual Division, Ameritas Life Insurance)
THE PROS (WITH STAR PAIRING):
- Doreen Beatrice (Independent Dance Instructor) – John Williams
- Leigh Bradshaw (Cincinnati Ballroom Company) – Steve Valerius
- Maria Wheeler (Phoenix Rising Ballroom)- Ryan Messer
- Jeremy Mainous (Arthur Murray Dance Studio – Cincinnati) – Rhonda Whitaker
- Jozsef Parragh (Independent Dance Instructor) – Dr. Marcia Bowling
- Josh Tilford (Independent Dance Instructor) – Dr. Renu Kotwal
- Alyenendrov (Lenny) Tsorokean (Phoenix Rising Ballroom) – Pam Kravetz
THE HOSTS: Chris O’Brien & Janeen Coyle (“Married With Microphones,” 103.5 WGRR-FM)
THE JUDGES:
- Douglas Beal (Independent Dance Instructor)
- Bonita Brockert (Independent Dance Instructor)
- Desiree Mainous (Independent Dance Instructor; Owner, Arthur Murray Dance Studio – Cincinnati)
- Neal Schulte (2014 Dancing for the Stars Winner & Fundraising Champion; Founder & President, Schulte Financial Group, LLC.)
EVENT COMMITTEE: Dr. Alison Holzapfel, co-chair (Dancing for the Stars 2017 celebrity participant), Jamie Humes, co-chair (Dancing for the Stars 2016 celebrity participant), Sue Gilkey, Jim Howland, Ginger Loftin, Rosemary Schlachter, Phil Schworer, and Tracey Skale.
EVENT SPONSORS: Arthur Murray Dance Studio – Cincinnati; Doreen Beatrice; Bonita Brockert; Cincinnati Ballroom Company; Graphic Village; Pebble Creek Group; Jozsef Parragh; Phoenix Rising Ballroom; Josh Tilford.
ELEVEN YEARS OF DANCING FOR THE STARS WINNERS:
- 2007: Dr. O’dell Owens (former Hamilton County Coroner)
- 2008: Jenell Walton (former WCPO-TV9 Anchor and Reporter)
- 2009: Phil Schworer (past President, Cincinnati Bar Association; Environmental Lawyer, Frost, Brown and Todd)
- 2010: Donna Speigel (Owner, The Snooty Fox)
- 2011: Tracey Skale (Chief Medical Officer, Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services)
- 2012: Regina Russo (former Director of Marketing and Communications, Cincinnati Art Museum)
- 2013: Chris Seelbach (Cincinnati City Councilman)
- 2014: Neal Schulte (Founder & President, Schulte Financial Group, LLC)
- 2015: Johnny Chu (Owner, AmerAsia Kungfood Restaurant)
- 2016: Jay Lame (Financial Analyst, Lenox Wealth Management)
- 2017: Rohan Hemani (Procter & Gamble Fabric Care Intrapenuer)
CINCINNATI ARTS ASSOCIATION’S ARTS EDUCATION PROGRAMS
CAA’s Education Department promotes life-long learning through its programs, which are diverse, multidisciplinary, and accessible to all ages and cultural groups. SchoolTime presents a series of programs that feature nationally-recognized artists at CAA’s two venues (the Aronoff Center and Music Hall), and Artists On Tour brings the finest local artists in the region to Tri-state schools for interactive arts experiences aligned with the curriculum.
The Overture Awards Scholarship Competition is the largest locally-run arts scholarship competition in the country. The program annually provides a $4,000 scholarship to six area high school students for education and training, with 18 finalists each winning a $1,000 scholarship. Each year, nearly 500 students are nominated by their schools to compete in one of six artistic disciplines: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, or Vocal Music. There are three levels of competition: Regional, Semi-Finals, and Final.
The Overture Awards was developed to recognize, encourage, and reward excellence in the arts among Tri-state students in grades 9-12. It also provides students an opportunity to share their talents and interests among their peers in a supportive environment outside of their individual schools. Now in its 20th year, The Overture Awards was launched in 1996 by the Cinergy Foundation and Leadership Cincinnati (a Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce program).
Founded in 1992, the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) is a not-for-profit organization that oversees the programming and management of two of the Tri-state’s finest performing arts venues – the Aronoff Center for the Arts and Music Hall – and is dedicated to supporting performing and visual arts. Each year, CAA presents a diverse schedule of events; serves more than 600,000 people in its venues; features the work of talented local, regional, and national artists in the Weston Art Gallery (located in the Aronoff Center); and supports the work of more than one dozen resident companies, including Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Symphony/Pops Orchestras, May Festival, and Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Cincinnati, presented by TriHealth. Since the inception of its acclaimed arts education programs in 1995, CAA has reached nearly 1.6 million students.
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