Dancing with Our Stars

At the beginning of the year, I've been in a "let's make things happen" mode. I see my friends and others on social media going out and accomplishing things they want to do. The energy inside of me to do the same has been building. Instead of thinking and wondering, I ask, "how do I make this happen?" Then I reach out to people. One of my goals is already underway to being checked off: dancing at a charity event.

While I had a couple charity events in mind, there was one where I really wanted to do this: Dancing with Our Stars. It's an event for the Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona. Tucson community members ("Stars") are paired with professional instructors and compete for the mirror ball at a gala event (like the tv show). There's a lot of publicity around it (tv, radio, magazine articles) and the event itself is pretty large. They expect over 400 people to attend every year. Last year, I saw professionals at my studio participating and wanted to attend. But then I was hit with the price: $175 per ticket. No way could I afford that.

This year, I decided to put myself out there and ask the Diaper Bank if I could participate as an exhibition dancer. I thought maybe I could get in for free as a dancer "donating" my time as entertainment. Nope. I discovered that Stars who participate in the competition have to sponsor a table for $1750. Many people buy a table or have their companies sponsor it and then sell the tickets. If you want to do a performance-only piece and not compete, you have to pay $2000. If I thought $175 was out of my budget, this was out of my league entirely.

In telling me all this, the event coordinator said she was looking for more "Stars" to perform. I told her I wasn't interested, but I did nominate one of the doctors I work for, Dr. Gilbertson. She went to the event last year and expressed that she wanted to participate. In the meantime, the organizer asked if I could help with the event night itself. That way I could be there at least and see the show. I agreed.

Dr. Gilbertson hesitated for a few days, but eventually agreed to be a Star. She managed to find sponsors both in our department and at her husband's practice. She was very excited about it. I was excited for her, too. I knew she would have a good time performing. The week this was all happening, Dr. Gilbertson had a birthday party. Other doctors were chatting about it and one of them - Dr. Becker - asked me if I was participating. "Oh no," I said. "You have to sponsor a table in order to participate." "Oh we can do that for you," she responded immediately. I was caught off guard. We talked about it a bit more and she said she could find people interested in going. Ibrahim was skeptical about this. "Make sure this isn't drunk party talk," he joked. I sent her an email with the details and the next week confirmed she was still willing to help with this. And so I was in.

I'm still in disbelief somewhat. I had this huge obstacle in front of me ($2000 to pay for a 2 minute dance performance) and now it is gone. We're performing! In front of 400 people!