Dancing with the Stars isn't just for Hollywood anymore. The Oxford Seniors and Miami University Affiliation will be presenting its own version of the hit show 6 p.m. April 29 at the Oxford Community Arts Center.
However, in this version, it won't be B-list celebrities doing the dancing. It'll be the stars of Oxford.
"We should've called it Dancing with the Stars Oxford-style," Sabrina Jewell, outreach and marketing coordinator for Oxford Seniors, said.
According to Jewell, six local couples will come together to compete – each doing a different dance ranging from the FoxTrot to the ChaCha. Three of those couples will be Oxford natives and the other three will be Miami students.
The audience will be doing more than watching the six couples dance, Jewell said.
Attendees will be served dinner catered by Paesano's Pasta House from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The dancing competition will follow the meal and will continue for about one hour, Jewell said. Finally, the audience will get a chance to take the floor.
"The community in general, not necessarily just the student community, will enjoy it because it's a combination of food and entertainment," Jewell said. "And they get to dance."
Jewell said the audience's role doesn't stop there. They will also be doing the judging.
"The audience will be handed clickers as they go into the room," Michael Scoggins, social dance teacher at Miami and choreographer of the event, said. "They'll have 60 percent of the vote and the panel of judges will have 40."
That panel of judges includes Miami professor Eric Aikens, along with Nancy Sturgeon and Jerry Schindler, both of whom are very accomplished dancers in the Oxford community, Jewell said.
Scoggins said the job of judging isn't going to be an easy one.
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"I've been working with them (the dancers) for about two months now," he said. "They're all really good. I don't even know who's going to win, I just can't tell."
The dancers were recruited from Miami dancing classes and classes taught by Scoggin at his private studio, Ohio Ballroom.
"I draw these people from anywhere and everywhere I can," Scoggins said.
But once recruited, each dancer still had to audition, Jewell said.
The chosen Oxford couples are local residents Janet and Tom Holmes, Ron and Beth Reagh and Dave and Treisa Abrams. Miami participants include Evie Ferriell and Evan White, Brittany Vandervort and Drew Ritcher, and Sarah Magnus and Ethan Lawless.
Miami junior Sarah Spitnale, who plans to attend the event, said she can't wait.
"I danced my entire life but stopped once I got to Miami," she said. "It'll be nice to get to do it again."
Tickets are $20 and are available at Oxford Seniors, located at 922 Tollgate Dr., Jewell said. She said the event is "really a break-even event" but any profits will go to Oxford Seniors.
"Anybody that wants to come is welcome," Scoggins said. "They're going to be exposed to some real nice dancing and they're going to get to do some dancing themselves. It's going to be a good time."
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