Dancing Stars Of Augusta 2024 – A Fun Night For A Great Cause
Back in late January, I was asked to be part of Dancing Stars of Augusta 2024. The show date was Saturday, May 4th, 2024. And after talking it out with a few people, I said yes. This past Saturday was the big day and there was a roller coaster of emotions!
Preparing For Dancing Stars of Augusta 2024
There’s quite a bit that goes into preparing for this event. Not only is it a dance competition, but it also raises funds for the Alzheimer’s Association. I will admit, the fundraising part intimidated me a bit. I’m not one who likes to ask people for money. But being competitive in general, I wanted to do my absolute best to hit a big goal.
Thankfully, I had some wonderful people here at the station who were willing to help me come up with and execute some great fundraising efforts. We did quite a few things, including fundraising nights at Your Pie in North Augusta and in Evans. We also had a fundraising day at the Back Porch in North Augusta too. In addition to raffle ticket sales, we wrapped up with the Augusta Craft Beer Festival, which donated a portion of the proceeds to my fundraising.
The other big part of this… was the dancing! While I have some experience in some forms of dance, I’d never done any ballroom dancing. But I was excited to give it a try. After a few failed attempts to meet my dance partner, we finally got together in mid to late February. At our first meeting, we settled on a song and started working on the dance right away.
I was really nervous because I felt like we didn’t have a lot of time to put something together. But thankfully, we were able to meet frequently and finished the dance pretty quickly. After that, it was just running through it, cleaning it up, and making small tweaks.
Dress Rehearsal For Dancing Stars
Friday night, we had a full dress rehearsal at Ballroom in Motion. We couldn’t rehearse at the theater due to another show at the venue on Friday. I will say, after watching the other dances, I started to feel really nervous!
We worked on the “Star Parade” for the show opener, and then everyone performed their dances at the studio. After that… it was time to head home and prep for show day!
Show Day – Dancing Stars Of Augusta 2024
We were told to be at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center around 10 a.m. so we could do a full run-through of the show. Even though I’ve been on that stage a few times now, I forgot just how big it actually is!
After running through the “Star Parade” a few times on stage, we finally started going through the full show. Daniel and I were the fifth in line to perform. Even just doing the run-through, I was feeling the nerves!
I wound up staying at the theater all day because there wasn’t a lot of time between run-through and getting there for hair and makeup.
By 3 p.m. we were all getting our hair and makeup done to prep for the show. We also were able to get out and mingle with our guests ahead of the show during the cocktail hour and dinner. I was able to see my fiancé, plus an amazing group of women who came to support me, along with some other people I know. I was glad to see everyone, but I will say it didn’t make me less nervous!
At 7 p.m., it was showtime! And the nerves were definitely there.
Our Performance
Daniela and I danced a cha-cha to Toby Keith’s “A Little Less Talk, And A Lot More Action.” I will say, our performance during the actual show may have been the best we’d ever done it! We had so much fun with it.
The judges gave us a 26 out of 30. As a competitive person, I won’t say I wasn’t a little disappointed. But there were so many talented people and fun dances. After the show, we got a ton of compliments from people too. We were all winners in my book. The time, energy, and dedication to the cause are worth a mirrorball trophy for everyone.
By the end of the night, we’d raised over $248,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association! That’s amazing and will make a huge difference in the fight to end Alzheimer’s.
I do have to admit. I cried. While some may think it’s because I’m a sore loser, honestly, it was a culmination of so many things. Was I disappointed? Yes. But on top of that, it had been a long day.
There were so many emotions: nervousness, anxiety, being tired, stress… etc. And some of it was relief for it to be over with. While I had so much fun dancing, it took its toll. Trying to balance a full-time job, dance practice, fundraising, exercising, and just living a life, was a lot.
Would I do it again? Possibly. Now that I know how the show goes. I honestly had never been to the show or heard much about it, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had so much fun dancing again. And we were even talking about me continuing to take some ballroom lessons and maybe compete in other events… I’ll keep ya’ll updated on that.
