Dancing With the Dedham Stars a Huge Success

Event passes last year's total of $25,000 in donations.

It was just about three months ago, that we received a phone call and an invitation, from Dedham Educational Partnership President Dimitria Sullivan, to sit in on a “secret meeting” she had planned, with the 2012 “Dedham Stars.” This year's group of stars – still a bit wide-eyed and a little nervous – were meeting with Dimitria and one another for the first time. A promo photo of the group (not an easy task, they were so busy having fun with one another) was planned, along with an over-view of what they should expect the next 10 weeks.  You see, this was the fifth consecutive year that Dimitria Sullivan and the D.E.P. was sponsoring this gala fundraiser, with all proceeds being donated to the Dedham Public School System. Last year's dance-…

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Needham Bank Sponsors “Dancing with the Dedham Stars”

Needham Bank, with branches throughout the Greater Boston area is proud to again support the Dedham Educational Partnership’s Annual “Dancing with the Dedham Stars” Fundraiser as a Grand Prize Sponsor.

  This is the third consecutive year that Needham Bank has sponsored the popular fundraiser which features six Dedham residents in a dance competition. Proceeds from the event, held on Saturday, Dec. 8 at Mosley’s on the Charles, will help support initiatives of the Dedham Public Schools and benefit children within the community. “The Dedham Educational Partnership and the students it serves are grateful to Needham Bank for the continued support of this important fundraiser,” said Dimitria Sullivan, President of the Partnership, noting that calculators for eighth graders and numerous library books were purchased from proceeds of last year’s 'Dancing with the Dedham Stars.' We appreciate the Bank’s generosity more than we can say and are …

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Diary of a Dan-cer: Homestretch

Wow! It’s almost here.

  The Sassy Six have been preparing since early October. We have worked very hard and are set to give you a great show next Saturday night, Dec. 8 at Moseley’s. While we are much improved dancers since the beginning of this journey, right now, the realization that this is actually going to happen is sinking in. In the past week, I personally have had two dreams/ nightmares. I kid you not. The first really freaked me out. It was vivid. I pictured myself on the dance floor at Moseley’s. I was in costume, with my partner. I scanned the crowd and saw a lot of familiar faces. The scene was real. Bobby Coughlin, emcee of DWTDS, looking dapper, had the microphone in hand and introduced my partner and I. We watched the video introduction, as clear…

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Diary of a Dan-cer: First Time for Everything

Life is made up of a series of firsts. We have baby’s first steps and first words. A little later in life, we have the first time we ride a bicycle, our first date, our first kiss…*gulp* our first time. Well last week, I had a first of my own. I dropped my dance partner for the first time. We didn’t slip. We didn’t stumble. I dropped her. Hard. My only consolation was that I fell, too, and much harder. We were adding a new move to the routine and, for me at least, with dance moves there is quite a large learning curve. Without going into much detail, in an effort to maintain the secrecy of my routine, I started to spin before we were both ready, and we went down like a sack of potatoes. I picture us looking like a spinning top that was …

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Diary of a Dan-cer: Confidence Building

Building confidence for the big day!

  Dancing is like any other activity…the more you do it, the better you get. Like shooting hoops in the driveway or taking swings in the batting cages, repetition is paramount. Contrary to popular belief, Practice does not make Perfect…Perfect Practice makes Perfect. In addition to my regular lessons, I’m putting in a lot of time outside the studio dedicated to sharpening my skills and making sure that I get it right. I have practiced in my kitchen. I have practiced in my living room. I have practiced in my basement. I have even practiced in my office at work. Fear of embarrassment in front of 1000 people at Moseley’s has proven to be quite a motivator! With all of this time and effort, much like taking swings in the cages, I am seeing …

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Dancing with the Dedham Stars Announces Host

Bob Coughlin with be the host of this year's Dancing with the Dedham Stars on Dec. 8.

  Well, it's now “official” – Dimitria Sullivan and “Dancing with the Dedham Stars” is proud to announce that the host of this year's charity event will be the ever-popular – Bob Coughlin!  For those of you who attended last year's dance-off, Bob Coughlin kept the night moving like a Vegas host. His sense of humor, timing, and knowledge of all those participating, left everyone in the crowd comfortable and entertained.  Each year – this is the fifth consecutive – DWTDS and D.E.P. sponsor the event, with proceeds being donated to the Dedham Public Schools. Dimitria Sullivan, along with this year's “stars”: Dan Maher, Anthony Jeannetti, Korrin Slavin, Andrew Patterson, Marcella Musto, and Laura Kelleher, have been working tirelessly with …

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Diary of a Dan-cer: Remember....It's All for the Kids!

The purpose of DWTDS is to raise money for the Dedham Educational Partnership and Dedham’s schools and students…and the 'Stars' take this responsibility very seriously.

  After a few lessons, you start to get the feel of things. Personally, I planned out my schedule each week with regular lessons and I began to look forward to them. Pardon the pun, but you get into a routine. I knew with each passing lesson, I was getting better. I was becoming *gulp* a dancer. As I have mentioned in previous Diary entries, dancing is a physical activity. There are the same obstacles as you might find in another new sport or physical activity that you take up….initially, muscle soreness, pulled muscles, etc. Then, as you get more involved, you realize that both strength and stamina could be improved. To make things more challenging, for the first few weeks of practice, I was recovering from a broken finger, so I was …

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Diary of a Dan-cer: Song Selection

Song selection can make or break a routine.

  With about 15 minutes left in our first lesson, it was time to pick our song. I had emailed my partner a week earlier and we started narrowing down our list…from 20 songs to 10….10 to 5. The only real advice I had been given from former Stars was to choose a song you like…because you’re going to hear a lot of it. Song selection can make or break a routine. Some strong selections from past shows include LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know it”, Shakira, Wham! and, of course, some disco from Saturday Night Fever. A mistake with this critical part of your performance can lead to a lull in the evening and everyone at Moseley’s heading for a bathroom break when you perform the routine that you put so much hard work into. My intention is to make you cross…

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Diary of a Dan-cer: And So it Begins...

Just one hour after coming home from a dance lesson, it hit me. Total and complete exhaustion.

  After the initial shock wears off…after all of the congratulations are over with, you actually have to start dancing. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a dancer. I lack a certain….oh, what is the dancing term….coordination! Yeah, I lack coordination. The “Shopping Cart” has been my go-to dancing move since High School, and it still is. So, now that I’ve committed to DWTDS, a certain level of terror has begun to set in. There’s no turning back. I have 10 45-minute lessons to perfect a routine to be performed in front of 1000 of my closest friends in just 10 short weeks. Lesson #1…my partner and I are ready to get to work. I let her know that I am a willing participant, but we’re going to have to work on the able part. We decided to run …

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Alex Shumway

10:43 am on Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Go Coach Dan!!!   more ›

Diary of a Dan-cer: The Announcement

We’re going to have some fun.

  Everything associated with Dancing with the Dedham Stars (DWTDS) is done with great secrecy. This is done to heighten anticipation and excitement. Mission accomplished! After Dimitria asked me to participate, I was walking around with this big secret, unable to tell anyone…not my friends…not my co-workers…not even my WIFE! I had this really great, really exciting news and I could tell NO ONE. Keeping the secret was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do. The following week, Dimitria asked all of the Stars to get together and we would all meet each other. I was excited to meet my fellow Stars, but there was a certain trepidation as well. After all, this is a competition. We would be competing against each other both as dancers and …

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