Dancing with the Stars fundraiser aims to dazzle area residents

Ormond Beach Observer
Neighbors

The Daytona Beach Symphony Society will host a Dancing with the Stars charity benefit, which kicked off last week. Final performances will take place in November.

BY WAYNE GRANT | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A local rendition of the “Dancing with the Stars” TV show is hoping to bring glitz, glamour and fun to Volusia County, and some of its more rhythmic residents.

The Daytona Beach Symphony Society has organized a contest, modeled after the TV show, with local celebrities and dance instructors. All profits will benefit local charities.

At the event’s kickoff event, July 25, at MG on the Halifax, volunteers were matched with professional instructors from local studios. The goal is to learn a dance routine before the climactic Nov. 10 performance, at the Daytona Beach Hilton Resort.

One of the dancers, Ormond Beach's Mandy Rossmeyer Campbell, marketing and promotions manager for Bruce Rossmeyer’s Harley-Davidson, said the dancers are expected to practice with their partners two hours a week for 10 weeks.

“I’m excited about learning how to dance,” Rossmeyer said. Her partner, Joe Mounts, of Absolutely Ballroom of Ormond Beach, is the liaison between the professional dancers and the organizers.

Ormond Beach's John Martino, who played Paulie Gatto in “The Godfather," as well as appeared on "American Bandstand" in 1958, has also volunteered. Martino, who recently published his life story, “A Wish Beyond the Stars,” moved to this area 19 years ago after visiting relatives.

“I told them I liked it here better than L.A.,” he said.

Also dancing will be Ormond Beach's Catie Ferritto, otherwise known as Miss Daytona Beach 2013.

“I think it’s a great idea and will be very successful,” said the Daytona State College student. Beyond cheerleading, she added, she has no dance experience.

Loretta Senatro, an Ormond Beach hair stylist, will fashion the contestants’ hair, while Debbie Kruck, who owns a fitness and pilates studio in Ormond Beach and was the first Miss Fitness USA, will serve as a judge.

The event was first conceptualized by Maria Mulder, treasurer of the Daytona Beach Symphony Society's fundraising arm, the Symphony Guild, who said that the "Dancing with the Stars" format has been done successfully in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

One of the guild's main fundraising activities is its Youth Experience Symphony, according to Crystal Romanyszyn, director of development. In this program, 3,000 students are brought to the Peabody Auditorium each year for concerts.