From hip-hop to interpretive, expect all kinds of dance moves at this year’s Dancing with the Celebrities competition.
Hoping to lift up that first place trophy is owner of “Refined Beauty” Jen Alvarez. While her partner Kyle Rath feels confident about the competition…
“I think we can take them. We’re feeling pretty good I’d say,” joked Rath.
Alvarez says learning how to dance has been an exciting challenge.
“It definitively has been a learning curve. Super fun. [It’s] a little bit out of my element but at the same time that’s what’s been so fun and exciting about it. Doing something different that I’ve never done before,” said Alvarez.
Looking to bring some fun interpretive flare to the dance floor is CEO of “Dealer Inspire” Joe Chura, with his partner Brianna Miller.
“We’ve caught our competitors spying on us a lot so we feel a bit nervous,” said Chura. “But the only thing we can do is out work people. That’s the only thing we have control of so we’ve been practicing quite a bit.”
Also busy practicing her steps is Natasha Marriner with Northern Trust. Partnering up with Arthur Murray franchisee James Dutton for a hip-hop performance made preparing their dance nothing but fun.
“It’s been a lot of fun actually, but I have one complaint, James has a problem with me leading,” joked Marriner. “And so we’ve had a little bit of a tug of war going on there but I’m winning so.”
“She’s definitely leading more frequently now, pretty aggressively leading and it’s getting worse and worse since,” added Dutton.
And bringing a cha-cha to the stage is Tom Carroll, CEO of TMC Leadership Consulting, with the help of his partner Taylor Lovstad. Both agree with all the other dancers that supporting the Community Career Center makes the hard work behind the scenes all worth it.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to support a wonderful not-for-profit in our community,” said Carroll. “The Community Career Center really is helpful in many ways to people that need help with employment, resume building, interview skills, anything that people need from an employment standpoint can be found there. So it’s a great organization. This is such a fun thing to do as a fundraiser and so unique in Naperville.”
They’ll all take to the stage on September 19. Dancing with the Celebrities is sold out, but you can catch the highlights from all the dancers on NCTV17.
And you can check out the other four competitors previews here.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
