DANCING FOR THE STARS Winners Announced

Donna Speigel (owner of The Snooty Fox, a local chain of upscale consignment shops) and her Dance Pro Doug Reynolds, were ready to rumba on Saturday, April 10 at the Music Hall Ballroom, taking the first place prize in the Cincinnati Arts Association's fourth-annual Dancing for the Stars.
With an audience of 500 in attendance (an event record), the event raised more than $40,000 to benefit CAA's Overture Awards and Academy - the nation's largest locally run high school arts scholarship competition.

Marvin Smith (owner, Ollie's Trolley) and his dance partner, Doreen Beatrice, took second place; and Cathy Crain (president, Cincinnati Opera; community volunteer) and her dance partner, Barry Bernard, placed third.

The remaining dance pairs included Helen Carroll (manager of community relations, Toyota) and Douglas Beal; Terry Foster (community volunteer; RN, St. Elizabeth Health Care) and Desiree Mainous; Tanya O'Rourke (anchor, WCPO-TV9) and Jeremy Mainous; Sean Rugless (CEO, African American Chamber of Commerce) and Mary Ramirez-Cook; and "Rockin'" Ron Schumacher (on-air personality, 103.5 WGRR-FM) and Bonita Brockert.

Inspired by the hit ABC-TV show Dancing with the Stars, Dancing for the Stars featured eight Cincinnati celebrities paired with some of the area's finest professional dancers in a competition program, at which the audience vote propelled the winners to victory. The competitive dance for the evening was the rumba, and each dance pair had 90 seconds to woo the crowd and the judges.

Event emcees were Chris O'Brien and Janeen Coyle ("Married With Microphones," 103.5 WGRR-FM), and the three competition judges were Phil Heimlich, Eleanor Lachman, and Veronica Rocco.

The Dancing for the Stars committee includes: Sue Gilkey (chair), Dancing for the Stars 2009 winner Phil Schworer (honorary chair), Valerie Amburgey, Christina Bolden, Jim Howland, Ginger Loftin, and Jane Mary Tenhover.

In addition, Dancing for the Stars featured:

· Silent auction

· The swinging sounds of Sound Body Jazz Orchestra

· Popular ballroom DJ Tony Rimkus

· Pre-event VIP Patron reception

· Open dancing before and after the competition

· Catering by Jeff Thomas (including his famous Lobster Mashed Potatoes)

· Cash bar

Event highlights include:

The winners were announced by Dancing for the Stars 2009 champ, Phil Schworer. A sensual rumba by first-place winners Doug Reynolds and Donna Speigel turned this "Snooty Fox" into a "Sexy Fox." At the end of Helen Carroll's dance, her large cheering section of friends and colleagues stormed the dance floor, surrounded her in a circle as they sang Abba's Dancing Queen, lifted her on a chair, and carried her off of the dance floor. An uncommonly raucous and energetic audience, which included large cheering sections holding signs with the number "10" in support of their favorite stars. The wonderful Arabian costumes worn by "Rockin" Ron Schumacher and Bonita Brockert in their entertaining rumba (Ron could be seen rubbing a magic lamp in hopes of increasing his chances of winning the event).

After the competition, the dance floor at the Music Hall Ballroom filled with the evening's guests,
who danced the night away. A showcase contemporary dance routine by 2010 Overture Award finalist in dance, Maggie Westerfield, wowed the audience. Emcees Chris O'Brien and Janeen Coyle ("Married With Microphones," 103.5 WGRR-FM) kept the crowed entertained between the stars' dance routines.

THE OVERTURE AWARDS / ACADEMY

The Overture Awards Scholarship Competition is the largest locally run arts scholarship competition in the country. The program annually provides a $2,500 scholarship to six area high school students for education and training, with 18 finalists each winning a $500 scholarship. Each year, more than
450 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. All former and potential competitors are also given the opportunity to study with professionals in their discipline at the Overture Academy, scheduled annually each Fall. Now in its 14th year, The Overture Awards was launched in 1996 by the Cinergy Foundation and Leadership Cincinnati (a Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce program).

CINCINNATI ARTS ASSOCIATION

Founded in 1992, the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) is a not-for-profit organization that oversees the programming and management 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 700,000 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. Since the inception of its acclaimed arts education programs in 1995, CAA has reached three-quarters of a million students.

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