Day: April 18, 2016

[rDay 388 – Saturday]

So Saturday evening we take off across the mountain pass to Pendleton, where Marina’s touring ballroom dance troupe is performing. This small group of dancers has been touring around the western U.S. for the past six months, and now are within an hour’s drive.   And our own HD (Honorary Daughter) Marina is part of their professional ranks.

The program consists of two parts. The first is a mock “Dancing with the Stars” thing, done to support local charities, complete with judges and local Pendleton area celebrities — community business people, politicians, educators, etc. — who each spent five days training with one of the troupe’s dancers in preparation for Saturday night’s competition. Marina’s partner was Randy, a painter, musician and community activist.

See the attached PDF for a rundown on the local Pendleton competitors and their professional partners from the dance group (including Marina, featured on the last page of the document).

The second part of the program — taking place after the intermission in which the audience voted for the dancing couple of their choice and selected their favorite charity — was a full-on, blistering performance by the dance troupe of several numbers representing a wide range of dance styles and interpretations. This was an incredible, high-energy, explosive display that, frankly, took me by surprise. I guess I was expecting something along the lines of dance events and productions that we’ve seen in the past by both local and visiting artists to our high school and college venues. In my mind, this was easily equal to anything you might see in film or tv productions. The dancing and the energy and the precision almost blew us out of our seats. Just …. wow. And Marina was such a dazzler. We always knew her as a great dancer through school, but now as a pro, she has grown to perform at utterly amazing levels. I’m hoping that she continues this career path.

Let’s hope some YouTube or Vimeo videos emerge of this stuff. But, in the meantime, here are a few stills I was able to feebly capture from the balcony.