PORT ANGELES — Put a sticky note on each foot: one marked L for left, the other R for right.
That just might help, says D Bellamente, one in the field of eight contestants in “Dancing with the Port Angeles Stars,” one of this town’s most unusual events.
Bellamente might be exaggerating about her dance aptitude. But she’s in good company — of others with no ballroom experience whatsoever.
Somewhat like its television counterpart “Dancing with the Stars,” this Port Angeles contest pairs novices with professionals — ours are from the traveling Utah Ballroom Dance Company — so they can learn various dance styles.
After a week of rehearsal, they take to the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center stage to compete, before judges and the audience, for the mirror-ball trophy.
All of this is to raise money for and awareness of the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts, presenter of music and dance concerts through the year along with the four-day Juan de Fuca Festival in May.
Last year, in the inaugural “Port Angeles Stars,” insurance agent and good sport Steve Methner won for his disco-dancing prowess.
And tonight (Saturday night), the contestants will bring their waltz, quickstep, paso doble, swing, foxtrot, Charleston, nightclub two-step and tango before the crowd for a cutthroat competition.
Well, not really cutthroat.
Joyce Mininger, principal of Jefferson Elementary School, Tom Baermann, owner of Pacific Office Equipment, and Josh Rancourt, manager of Country Aire Natural Foods, claim they are not all that fierce to win this game.
They’re just out there for fun and fundraising for the Juan de Fuca Foundation, a cause they believe in.
“It is definitely out of my comfort zone,” said Alison Crumb, the Peninsula College women’s basketball coach who’s learning the quickstep.
Bellamente, though, is another story.
“My goal is to bring that mirror-ball trophy home to the Port Angeles Senior Center,” which she manages.
Bellamente has been a runner all of her life, and has a deep competitive streak.
She’ll be doing the waltz tonight with a partner-trainer who’s giving her “very good instruction.”
In the contest, “we have a chance,” she said.
The rest of the rivals are Betsy Wharton, a community activist and registered nurse who’ll dance the nightclub two-step; Todd Ortloff, manager of KONP and KSTI who’ll do the tango; and Port Angeles School District superintendent Marc Jackson, soon to dance the foxtrot.
Unlike the others, Wharton does have some ballroom-dance background.
Her great aunt and uncle were social-dance instructors, and would teach the kids a few steps after Thanksgiving dinner every year.
But “my aunt passed away when I was about 10, so it’s been a while,” Wharton admitted.
The eight Port Angeles dancers, along with their pros, will perform for the judges’ panel including dancers Lynda Williamson and Kayla Oakes along with musician Bill Tiderman.
The audience will be asked to vote too, and if it’s anything like 2014, this will be a close, suspense-loaded race.
“I went last year,” said Bellamente, “and laughed until my sides ached.”
So what if she is “dance-challenged,” as she puts it? Like her fellow contestants, she is ready to get out there in the service of hilarity and the Juan de Fuca Foundation.
