PORT ANGELES — In a short red dress and high-heeled sandals — about as different from her everyday attire as she could get — Betsy Wharton danced her way to the mirror-ball trophy in Saturday night’s “Dancing with the Port Angeles Stars” competition.
Gliding through the nightclub two-step to the Chris DeBurgh song “Lady in Red” on the big stage in front of the 1,100-seat Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, Wharton looked confident despite the newness of it all.
She was like her seven fellow “Port Angeles Stars” in that she came to the contest with little to no ballroom-dance background, but managed to learn a partnered routine in just five days.
That’s how it worked in this second annual event, a fundraiser for the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts.
The contest and show brought together the traveling Utah Ballroom Dance Company — a team of young, fleet-footed men and women — and a diverse bunch of local residents: Wharton, who is a nurse, mother of two, Peninsula Daily News columnist and the owner of the Clallam Canning Co.; Jefferson Elementary School Principal Joyce Mininger; Pacific Office Equipment owner Tom Baermann; KONP and KSTI manager Todd Ortloff; Peninsula College women’s basketball coach Alison Crumb; Port Angeles School District Superintendent Marc Jackson; Port Angeles Senior Center Director D Bellamente and Country Aire Natural Foods Manager Josh Rancourt.
They danced the nightclub two-step, Charleston, the paso doble, the tango, the quickstep, the foxtrot, the waltz and the swing, and they drew cheers and whooping from the crowd.
But when it came to the audience balloting for the best dancer, Mininger and Wharton were the finalists, with Wharton ultimately winning the most votes.
When Utah Ballroom Dance Company master of ceremonies Jesse Maher announced her name, a look of astonishment overtook her face. Then came a beaming smile and a series of embraces from the rest of the dancers.
When asked where this glittering trophy would rank among her personal and professional accomplishments, Wharton quipped that it would be at the very top.
The toughest part of this, she said, was learning the exacting choreography and executing it with a professional dancer as her lead.
“I improvise through life,” she said.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
