It's official. There's a dance battle coming to Whatcom County.
Bellingham Young Life has decided to spice up its yearly fundraising banquet by turning it into a local "Dancing with the Stars" competition Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Ferndale Event Center.
With times tight and people scaling back their usual donations to nonprofits, Bellingham Young Life area director Loran Zenonian thought it was time to turn up the volume on the organization's decades-old banquet benefit tradition.
"I wanted to come up with something that was fun," he said. "We just said, why don't we get five people that other people would know and would love to see dance, and we'll make it a great night. People are excited to watch their friends."
The competition will include five pairs dancing in different styles, taught to them by instructors from Bellingham's Dancing for Joy studio. Each pair picked a number to determine who they'd work with and what style dance they would do. Then they were given two months to rehearse with their instructor before the big night, where the audience will decide who has the best moves.
The competitors:
• Laurie Bunnell and her husband Doug Bunnell, a pastor at First Presbyterian Church, dancing Broadway jazz.
• Christ the King Community Church Pastor Grant Fishbook and his daughter, McKenna, dancing hip-hop.
• Former Bellingham High School principal and current district administrator Steve Clarke and his wife, Julie, performing modern dance.
• Local Praise 106.5-FM radio host Lynette Morgan and her husband, Bob, dancing the waltz.
• Lettered Streets Coffeehouse co-owner Kjirstin Glessner and her husband, Jeremy, doing disco.
In a close-knit community, the competition could get interesting.
"One guy said, 'I'm just going to heckle Doug,'" Laurie Bunnell said of her husband. "How often do you get to heckle your pastor?"
The Bunnells were happy they got Broadway jazz as their style. The couple loves musicals, and they're dancing to a song from one of their favorites, "Hairspray."
"We probably have more Broadway musicals on our iPod than most individuals, so we were really excited," Laurie Bunnell said of finding out their dance style. "It was not an 'Oh no!' moment."
Dancing for Joy choreographer Allie Carlson had no idea what to expect from the couple before their first rehearsal.
"Broadway jazz is different in that you can't be shy at all," she said.
She was relieved to see that the Bunnells were cheery, energetic and full of smiles when they showed up.
"The first day they just blew me away," she said.
Now the pair and their competitors just have to work on blowing away the crowd on Saturday.
"I feel good and terrified all at the same time," Doug Bunnell said. "I'm doing jazz squares in my dreams."
TO ATTEND
What: Dance Bellingham Dance
When: 7-9:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.
Where: Ferndale Event Center, 5715 Barrett Road.
Tickets: $35 per person or $250 for a table of eight and include a catered dinner before the dancing fun begins.
How to get them: Tickets will be available online at dancebellinghamdance.com until they're sold out. Call 360-676-8970 for more information or to find out if tickets will be available at the door.
