Celebrities practicing moves for Dancing With the Tahoe Stars

Five, six, seven, eight. Dancers will always have numbers in their head as they count out the beat, and those participating in the annual Dancing With the Tahoe Stars are no doubt experiencing just that as they wrap up their final two weeks of rehearsals.

There's an old saying: "Writing about art is like dancing about architecture." After watching rehearsals this week I starting searching for the words to start as I found that translating the movement of the human body into something written down to be a frustrating process.

So instead, I'll focus on those who are participating.

Ten local celebrities have been paired with professional dancers to learn assigned dances for the non-profit group's biggest fundraiser of the year.

Comedian and radio show host Howie Nave has been partnered with local dance instructor Michelle Langlois to learn a country dance. When I stopped by one of their recent rehearsals I thought I might have to get by an armed guard, or provide a secret password to enter, so imagine my surprise to be able to just walk into the open studio.

Nave, with his cowboy boots and hat, Langlois, in her dance shoes, were practicing with music in front of floor to ceiling mirrors which capture every move the audience will see. From what I saw, people will be pleasantly surprised.

Langlois, who teaches line dancing at the Senior Center every Wednesday, said she had only one request of Tahoe Arts Project. "I asked for someone of danceable size," the petite Langlois said.

The celebrity dancers walked into a parings party at the Hard Rock, not knowing what dance they'd end up having to perform or who their instructor/partner would be.

When asking Nave what the biggest surprise of the experience has been, he said he didn't know he'd sweat so much. "I have to cut out eating doughnuts ten minutes before class," he added. He also said the wearing of cowboy boots during dancing has been hard to get used to.

"The bar has been set pretty low so it won't be hard to finish," he added.

Nave said he is going for the People's Choice Award.

"We have some suprises we can't let you see right now," Nave said, and I quietly snuck out the door.

Also practicing this cloudy Sunday morning were Dr. Rita Wang and her professional partner, Jorge Orozco.

Orozco, who taught Latin dancing at LTCC for years, is teaching Dr. Wang the Merengue and from what I saw during practice was quite impressive.

Wang, who has no dancing experience, said the twirling while keeping balance and timing has been the toughest part. "I'm up to five twirls without getting dizzy or falling out of step," she said.

Orozco watched some of the previous years' videos to see what dancers accomplished during their month of practicing. The two have a couple of more rehearsals planned before the event.

They both agreed that this has been a great experience.

The other celebrities, their dance partners and style of dance are: Jenn Boyd, account executive at Weidinger Public Relations with Josh Comprendio dancing Hip Hop; Paul Bruso, owner of Ernie's with Catherine Arens dancing the Two Step; Jason Collin of Barton Hospital with Rhonda Keen dancing the Tango; Ginger Nicolay-Davis, real estate broker and LTUSD School Board member with Dino Elias dancing Broadway; Lake Valley Firefighter/EMT Martin Goldberg with Sarah Guzman dancing the Cha Cha; Attorney Joe Laub with Robyn Linder dancing the Mambo; Lisa McDaniel, LTUSD teacher with Bubba Romagnolo dancing the Jive and Corrina Osborne, Director of Hotel Operations at Hard Rock with Adam Hopkins dancing the Waltz.

You can't have a competition withouth judges. Don Bosson, Joan Elias, Paul Middlebrook and Marcia Sarosik will judge the dancers while Dru Marin returns as Master of Ceremonies.

There are two ways to take part in the fun. First is to buy a ticket to the March 7 event, and second is to vote on-line for the "People's Choice Award."