JESSICA MEDITZ
Asst. Life & Arts Editor
Fredonia’s Student Dance Organization (SDO) makes the running joke of “twinkle toes in the NFL” somewhat a reality.
Even with the lack of a football team, members of Fredonia’s variety of athletic teams will be participating in the organization’s yearly event, Dancing with the Athletes.
Admission costs $4 for students and $6 for the general public.
All of the event’s proceeds will go to Moving Miracles, a dance studio located in Buffalo. Moving Miracles specializes in dance training and education for children, teens and adults with special needs.
This year is the seventh year of Dancing with the Athletes, and is basically Fredonia’s take on the reality TV series, “Dancing with the Stars.”
Twelve pairs of dancers and athletes will perform the dances they have rehearsed together.
The athletes involved in the event are an eclectic mix, ranging from men’s ice hockey, basketball and baseball, to women’s lacrosse, soccer and ultimate frisbee.
After each pair performs their routines, the judges of the event will deliberate and announce the top-scoring dancers.
This year’s judges are Diane Everett, a professor of Spanish and the adviser of the Fredonia Dance Team, and Anthony Alterio, an assistant professor of dance in Fredonia’s Theatre and Dance Department.
Julianne Wagner is a senior B.F.A. dance major and president of SDO. She said that SDO puts on this event every year for several reasons.
“We put on this event in order to get more athletes involved in a different type of physical activity. It’s super fun to be able to watch them dance,” she said. “It also gets more dancers involved in a quicker and easier event than something like Orchesis or Dance Team, for example.”
She also said how important Moving Miracles is to the members of SDO and that the whole event is essentially put on to benefit the cause.
Dancing with the Athletes will showcase the performances of two other groups on campus in addition to the pairs of dancers and athletes.
The Riveters, an all female acapella group, will perform at intermission. The Fredonia Dance Team will perform toward the end of the event, prior to revealing the winners.
Dancing with the Athletes will take place on Sunday, Nov. 17 from 5-8 p.m. in the Williams Center Multi-Purpose Room.