Dancing With the Stars at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance
Dancing with the Denver Stars has been a hit from the get-go, and in this, its eighth year, the fundraiser for Cleo Parker Robinson Dance hit even higher heights thanks to a record 700 guests and income that totaled $250,000.
“When we began this gala eight years ago, we weren’t sure who would participate,” said CPRD board chair Gwen Brewer, “but every year we have people eager to dance and people who are happy to come out and cheer them on.”
The 13 community leaders who signed on to dance at the event, chaired by Kim Bimestefer and held at the Marriott City Center included Janice Sinden, chief executive officer at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts; Ken Greene, Denver International Airport’s chief operating officer; CBS4 morning news anchor Britt Moreno; Jonathan Adelman, an area vice president for Xcel Energy; and Evan Dreyer, who is Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s deputy chief of staff.
The pressure was on for Dreyer, and the city’s deputy manager of parks, Scott Gilmore, when Hancock, who had danced at a previous edition of the gala, moved his chair closer to the stage and fired up his smartphone and punched the “video” button.
Sinden, who had been the mayor’s chief of staff before joining the DCPA, seemed to impress her former boss by executing a robust routine that included twirls, dips and a lift by partner Cedric Hall, an 11-year member of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. They danced to “Rhythm of the Night” by Debarge.
The dance portion of the evening began when the celebrity participants and their professional partners entered the hotel ballroom behind a spirited group of students from the CPRD junior and youth ensembles.
As they paused at the head of the ballroom floor, this year’s mystery dancer, Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, stepped onto the stage with Cleo Parker Robinson as the audience cheered.
The celebrity lineup also included John Bolger of AON Corp.; Ivan Burwell of Street Source; Celia Dietrich Wattles of Dietrich & Co.; obstetrician/gynecologist Johnny Johnson; Bruce Johnson, an attorney and shareholder at Polsinelli; Huy Pham of the Innovative Retail Group; and Marcia Romero, a communications specialist at Cobiz Financial.
Actor/comedian Shed G once again served as master of ceremonies, using his comedic skills to keep the audience in stitches with quips like how Dr. Johnny Johnson had to stop counting how many members of the audience were those whose children he had delivered in order to keep the count on his dance steps. Or, how Ken Greene might not want to wear his red vinyl dancing boots to work as they’d likely trigger a TSA patdown.
CPRD executive director Malik Robinson spoke of the plans to add 15 schools to the company’s Arts in Education program, a move that would bring the number of schools served to 58. Arts in Education programming also is offered at 250 community venues throughout Colorado.
Guests included Deputy Mayor Happy Haynes; former Mayor Wellington Webb and his wife, Wilma; City Council president Albus Brooks; Crisanta Duran, speaker of the Colorado House; sculptor Ed Dwight and his wife, Barbara; CPRD advisory board member Tina Walls; Gloria Neal and Amani Ali; Damon and Heather Barry; Armin Afsahi and Joe Eklund; and the Rev. Terrence Hughes of New Covenant Christian Church, who delivered the invocation.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, partiwriter @hotmail .com and @joanne davidson on Twitter.