Green, Nance set to take the stage for Calhoun’s Dancing with the Stars Gets Schooled.
Mohawk Presents Calhoun’s Dancing with the Stars Gets Schooled is gearing up for its sixth season as United Way of Gordon County and GEM Theatre administrators- the target beneficiaries-- prepare to present a dramatic reinvention of Calhoun’s single most popular and successful fundraiser. This year, Dancing with the Stars will get schooled—hence the new name-- as high school students will be the ones dancing for dollars in this wildly popular event.
Tickets went on sale Sunday, March 19 and the Saturday night show in the GEM Theatre is sold out. However, good seats are still available for the Friday night show and at the Velo Vineyard viewing. In addition, we have now opened up a student ticket for Gordon County and Calhoun City students of $15. Sponsors are stepping up to support the nine teams already in place and eighteen contestants are rolling up their sleeves as they choose songs, hire choreographers, order their costumes and get ready to topple the fundraising bar one more time.
The eighteen most important people are the dancers themselves and this year, those nine teams will come together to heat up the stage and tear down the ceiling when Mohawk Presents Calhoun’s Dancing with the Stars open at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 12, and Saturday, May 13, 2017.
Sarah Green and Zeke Nance will be the last team of the night. Green and Nance are both Juniors at Calhoun High School. Sarah is the daughter of Terry and Carmen Green and has a sister, Rachel. Zeke is the son of Mike Nance and Kerry Nance. He has a younger brother, Isaac, who attends Calhoun Middle School.
Sarah is no stranger to the stage having studied dance for 12 years at City Ballet and two years at The Performer’s Warehouse. In addition, she has studied piano and vocals and has performed in more than 20 local productions. She has most recently portrayed Salome in The Robber Bridegroom. She is also a cast member of the Georgia International Thespian Conference All State Show “Memphis.”
Friday nights during football season, you can find Sarah commanding the 287 member Calhoun High School Marching “Yellow Jacket” band, where she has served as Drum Major for the last three years. She also serves as Dance Captain for Calhoun’s Performing Arts department. She is a member of Beta Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, drama club, Advanced Ladies Chorus and Women’s Literary Trio.
Sarah is also active in her church, Belmont Baptist, and loves doing community service. She has worked with clothes closets, food drives, food pantries, helping with school fundraisers and other local fundraisers. She is currently working toward a goal of 1,000 community service hours before her graduation next year.
Sarah’s honors include Presidential Bronze Community recipient, two years academic letter, BETA Club 95 average, 20132015 Region Championship One Act Dance Core/Ensemble Cast Member, and serving as Student Council President for the past two years.
Classmate and boyfriend Zeke Nance makes up the other half of couple number nine. Zeke is also no stranger to dance either. He says his mother played a big part in getting him to “boogie” whether it be in the kitchen just goofing around or on the football field to pump up the crowd. He is also proud of his fifth-grade performance of Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror for his chorus event.
Zeke is no stranger to large crowds either as he takes the field each Friday night in the fall as Calhoun’s starting defensive end. He is an avid weight lifter and enjoys cheering on his fellow students and athletes in other sporting events.
Zeke is an Honors Student, member of the 2014 AAA State Championship football team, and was selected as 2016 All-County First Team Defensive End, and as a 2016 All- Region First Team Defensive End.
Although Zeke is both brains and brawn, he has a wonderful heart for community service, too. He enjoys assisting his grandparents with yard work and gardening and splitting wood for a fire. He also says that he is keeping the local Checkers in business five burgers at a time
The other sixteen dancers, listed alphabetically, include Matthew Adcock, Garrison Baumgardner, Allie Childers, Elizabeth Dutch, Kirsten Gordon, Kelsey Hall, Logan Hannah, Natalie Mathis, Ryan Morrell, Julia Palazzolo, Madison Reyes, Chandler Smith, Kathrynn Stockman, Joseph Taylor, Jose Trenti, and Kade Wright. Each team has been featured in a newspaper article since March and leading up to show-time.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be moving toward our sixth anniversary and are hoping to beat last year’s record, as we have done every year,” said Vickie Spence, Executive Director of United Way of Gordon County. “This show has become an absolute financial powerhouse for both United Way and our local GEM Theatre, but it’s also developed into one of those rare community events that gives rise to the best of our virtues: true partnership, civic commitment, hometown loyalty, servant service and unbridled devotion. We’ve got just the right amount of egos and divas to keep things spicy, but ultimately all that spirit gets channeled into the energy of the dances. It’s a really good show, but it’s so much more than a show.”
The mission of United Way of Gordon County is to accurately assess the needs of Gordon County and to mobilize available resources to meet these needs. The mission of the GEM Theatre is to enrich the community by providing a premier facility to be used for viewing, learning and participating in the performing and visual arts, enlist community support to maintain Calhoun’s landmark theatre building, and ensure preservation of the theatre for future generations.
Profits realized from Mohawk Present’s Calhoun’s Dancing with the Stars remain in Gordon County. Each student dancer will receive a $500 scholarship, and remaining profits are divided equally between GEM Theatre and United Way of Gordon County.