ELY- The third annual “Dancing with the Ely Stars” once again sold out last Thursday for an evening of great dancing and buckets of humor.
Abby Sirek was the MC for the event. Sirek attempted to usurp the attention of the audience with her insistence that she was the real event. She even put out her own box to collect votes for her “performance.” Some people even voted for her.
This year’s judges included Andrea Strom back for a second year of judging after winning first place in the first “Dancing with the Ely Stars.” The role of the Russian judge was taken by Molly Roske, who never gave a score above six. Her average score was below four. Ryan Stewart was the third judge who maintained an ongoing riff with a Scottish accent while comparing everything to shrimp to great humorous effect.
The line of competitors included:
• Elijah Olson and Lucy Soderstrom with their hilarious aerobic exercise dance number.
• Jessie and Emily Dunn with the first mother-daughter dance routine at a “Dancing with the Ely Stars” event.
• Megan Wind and Aidan Bremer with a jazzy swing number
• The polished Eva Peterson paired with the new-to-performance Ozzie Reif with a contemporary ballet piece.
• Megan Sisson and SunShine Gardner with a swing-oriented routine that included the athleticism people have come to expect for any dance involving Gardner.
This year, the event included a judges’ favorite award that was given to Megan Wind and Aidan Bremer. Second place went to Elijah Olson and Lucy Soderstrom, who displayed entirely too much energy. Olson took home his second “Dancing with the Ely Stars” award. He previous won first place in 2023 along with Andrea Strom.
Megan Sisson and SunShine Gardner took first place. This is the second award that Gardner has taken home from this event. He won second place last year with Megan Olson as his partner.
While the judges counted the votes, the audience was treated to three numbers by the Reflections Dance Company. The dances included a solo by Ella Rue, a ballet trio of Charlotte Hegman, Ellie Marshall, and Presly Marzella; and an ensemble number with Jessie Dunn, Molly Olson, Crystal Poppler, AmberBeth VanNingen, and Megan Wind.
The event was a fundraiser for the Northern Lakes Arts Association. The show raised over $7,000 by the end of the show. Each member of the audience received three tickets to use for voting for the winners. People could also buy more tickets to vote for their favorites. The NLAA uses the funds to expand its youth programs and to award scholarships to NLAA youth activities for kids who would otherwise not be able to attend.