What do a school superintendent, highway superintendent, a former town supervisor, a school principal, a news publisher, a boutique owner and a community activist have in common?
They will be putting on their dancing shoes as part of a fundraiser organized by a Yorktown Relay for Life team for the American Cancer Society.
Lynne Rothman and members on the "Bunco Babes/Class Action" team have gotten together with local leaders and professional dancers for a "Dancing with the Yorktown Stars" fundraiser and have raised almost $10,000.
The 'Dancing with the Yorktown Stars' is already a sold out event, with 250 people coming. The dance competition will be held on Friday, May 6 at .
"I approached several dance studios and without hesitation," Rothman said, "I had four studios say yes within a week. Then, we found our "stars." Word was spreading quickly and we had "stars" emailing us asking if could they be a dancer!"
Gary Cusano, who is the lead band singer for Class Action, "Lawyers that Rock," came up with the idea. The band is the opening head liner at the dancing competition event next Friday. After the winner has been announced, Class Action will perform again for everyone to dance.
"We have a total of 99 teams participating so far," Rothman said. "We camp out for 12 hours, cancer doesn't sleep so we won't either! Each team tries to come up with various funraising ideas before the actual relay in June, by asking family and friends for donations and each camp site tries to come up with fundraisers that go on the night of Relay."
The team has already raised close to $10,000 and hopes to raise more. Committee members include Lynne Rothman, Adrienne Cusano, Gary Cusano, Peggy Galotti, Andrea O'Connell, Maureen Arini, Mary Viverito and Randy Zapakin.
"We all know each other as parents in Yorktown, we've played on a team called 'Bunco' for the past seven years together and our kids all know each other," Rothman said. "You couldn't ask for a better group of friends who decided to get together and have a great time raising money for the American Cancer Society."
Judging the "stars" will be owner Barry Liebman, Town Clerk Alice Roker, and an English teacher at the Mildred E. Strang Middle School, known as Mrs. W.P. The judges will have paddles just like the TV show, where they judges will hold up their paddles for the first set of "Presentation Scores." Then they will have three other categories that they will score the couples on privately. When all seven couples are done, the total scores will be tabulated and the winner will be announced. There will only be the first place winner.
Here is the line up for the "stars" and their dance partners:
"Star" Professional Instructor Ralph Napolitano (Superintendent of Yorktown School District) Jenny Lido of The Country Academy of Dance Ken Levy (Principal of Crompond School) Meryl Cates of Dance for Joy Don Peters (Former Yorktown Supervisor) Donna Clark of On My Toes Dance Academy Eric DiBartolo (Yorktown Highway Supervisor) Danielle Izzo & Peggy Izzo of The Peggy Izzo's Dance Workshop Bruce Apar (Publisher, PennySaver Community) Alexis Diaz of Street Beatz Dance Studio Tricy Cushner (Parent-Yorktown, Actively involved in Foundation of Excellence and Alliance for Safe Kids) Joe Plamer of Dance Manhattan Marissa Farda (Parent-Yorktown, also actively involved in Foundation for Excellence and owner of Up Front Boutique in Yorktown) John and Linda Vergo, Students of Dance NY, in BriarcliffCheck out the video for highlights from the dancers' last rehearsal on April 25.
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