Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) held its highly anticipated 17 th anniversary “Dancing With The Giordano Stars 2024” ballroom dance competition on Oct. 10 at Park West. This popular annual event, patterned after the hit ABC series “Dancing With The Stars,” raised more than $226,000 to benefit GDC’s Jazz Dance/Science & Health outreach program, company operations and jazz dance advocacy and mentorship programs. This was GDC’s most successful “Dancing With The Giordano Stars” event ever. Emcee for the evening was Lisa Fielding , Anchor/Reporter, Newsradio WBBM.
The evening began with spirits and light fare by Food for Thought . GDC dancers opened the evening’s program, performing a sneak peek from Ray Leeper’s “Red & Black,” premiering at the company’s upcoming Harris engagement, followed by a dancing introduction of all of the contestants with their GDC dance partners. Then it was time for the 10 couples to perform their one dance for one chance to impress the guest judges including Ray Leeper , choreographer for the ABC TV show “Dancing with the Stars,” Emmy-winning director, choreographer and master educator Al Blackstone , and this author.
The slate of male contestants (and their GDC dance partners) included Tom Ferguson Gomez, Interior Designer at Tom Ferguson Interiors, ltd. (with Sasha Lazarus), Asad Khan, Insurance Broker (with Analysse Vance), Steven Lafayette, Ophthalmologist at the Wheaton Eye Clinic (with Erina Ueda), Matt Roma, Financial Advisor at CIBC Private Wealth US (with Talia Luzzo) and Dr. Tian Xia, CEO of RevitTx (with Amanda Hickey-Newcom)…