‘Dancing for Special Stars’ showcases area talent and ingenuity – Grand Forks Herald

GRAND FORKS – Clark Piepkorn may have had some jitters going into the dance contest recently at the Chester Fritz Performing Arts Center, but he was bolstered by plenty of past experience.

Growing up in Stanley, North Dakota, for entertainment, he and his friends went to every wedding dance “whether you were invited or not,” he said.

During Tuesday’s Dancing for Special Stars event, the choreographed swing dance that he and his daughter, Taylor Piepkorn, performed to Elvis Presley’s “Jail House Rock” won top honors and the Mirror Ball Trophy.

“It is a little fast for an old guy, but, you know what, I’m going to give it my best shot,” he told the Herald before the event, “and see what we can do there.”

This year’s fundraiser featured 24 dancers, 12 “celebrity dancers” coupled with dance instructors, to raise funds for Special Olympics North Dakota.

Taylor, a freshman at UND, has been in dance, and with Dance Etc., for most of her life. Her father is the owner of Happy Grass, a lawn care company, and Midwest Potato Services, specializing in potato sprout inhibition.

Dancing for Special Stars “is a pretty neat community event,” Clark Piepkorn said. “They’ve turned it into quite a fundraiser.”

Having volunteered as a celebrity dancer, “I always tell everybody, you know, 40 years, 100 pounds and four knee surgeries ago, I thought maybe I could dance a little bit, but things have slowed down a little bit,” he said. “So just trying to do the best that I could do – body won’t do what it used to.”

Their dance was fairly difficult to learn, he said.

“I’m not used to having to have my feet in a certain spot … I just go to the music. Where this is, your arms got to be going a certain way and your feet got to be going a certain way. For someone who’s not used to that, it has been more challenging for sure.”

Piepkorn entered the event with the idea that “we’re going to have fun with it, and make some money for Special Olympics – and that’s what it’s all about,” he said.

“The bonus is, it’s going to be a life-time memory for my daughter and me.”

Clark and Taylor Piepkorn were not the first father-daughter duo to participate in the Dancing for Special Stars event, said Cathy Muus, director of special events and marketing for Special Olympics North Dakota. “We have had multiples of father-daughter dancers in the past.”

And presented for the first time, the People’s Choice Award went to Durga Panda and Klaudia Holkup, who performed a Bollywood Fusion dance to a medley of songs. Panda is a neonatologist with Altru Health System; Holkup and her father Mitch Price won the 2017 competition.

Korrie Wenzel / Grand Forks Herald

This year’s Dancing for Special Stars drew a little over 1,111, a record in terms of audience attendance. Special Olympics North Dakota did not disclose the amount of funds raised, but did note that the amount was the second highest in the event’s 15 performances. (It was not held in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

The event was held at the Chester Fritz Performing Arts Center for the second consecutive year, having outgrown its former venue, the downtown’s Empire Arts Center.

“This is a showcase of local talent,” Josh Jones, master of ceremonies, told the crowd about the annual event that pushes celebrity dancers “way outside their comfort zones.”

“Can a banker, a lawyer, a physician or a mail carrier dance?” he asked. “You bet they can. I’ve seen it.”

“This is not some stuffy event … Think of this like a hockey game,” Jones said, urging audience members to make a lot of noise in response to outstanding dance moves.

The event is patterned after the television hit program “Dancing with the Stars,” in which professional dancers train celebrities for the competition. Each couple performs a dance of their choice.

The couple that garners the most points wins the competition and a Mirror Ball Trophy. Votes can be accrued through sponsorships, donations, audience votes and judges’ scores.

Admission to the event is $30. Each attendee’s ticket is worth 30 points. Audience members may also buy additional points at the event for $1 per point to go to their favorite dance couples.

For the new People’s Choice Award, Muus said, audience members received an additional ticket to vote for their favorite dance couple. The couple with the most tickets received the People’s Choice Award.

The celebrities, their identification or sponsor, and dance instructor-partners were: Tom Brosseau/musician-artist, and Graci Chandler; Jake Chisholm/Harry’s Steakhouse, and Kalyn Voightman; Derek Holt/First Community Credit Union, and Makenna Burchinal; Reid Huttunen/City of East Grand Forks, and Adelyn Emter; David Jackson/retired U.S. Air Force, and Taylor Vasek; Dewey Kemnitz/U.S. Postal Service and Maria Morell; Kyle Kosior/Veritas Hockey and Tiffany Sonterre; Jalen Lorinser/Jalen Nicole Floral and Terence Flynn; Durga Panda/Altru Health System and Klaudia Holkup; Clark Piepkorn/Happy Grass and Taylor Piepkorn; Joe Quinn/Pearson Christensen, LLP law firm and Heather Binstock; Tammy Schmitz/Alerus Financial and Matthew Hippen; and Katie Thorson/Blue Moose Bar and Grill and Jordan Speare.

Tuesday’s show opened with a performance by Grand Forks Central High School’s Drumline, a group of 11 percussionists who wowed the audience with their precise and synchronous rhythmic music.

The first performance featured last year’s winners Mac McLennan, representing Minnkota Power Cooperative, and Alexandra Quanrud re-enacting their dance from last year, a tap-dance style dance to Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue.” The couple were literally illuminated with thin glowing tubes of light affixed to their costumes.

About winning the event’s Mirror Ball last year, McLennan said it was “a good experience, but nonetheless nerve-wracking.”

On Tuesday, even though he was performing the dance for a second time, “you don’t lose those nerves,” he said. Last year, learning the dance routine was no easy task.

“It was hard for someone who doesn’t tap dance. But for her,” he said pointing to Quanrud, “it was no big deal.”

“It’s all about the cause – it’s a worthwhile cause,” McLennan said. “At the end of the day, it’s about raising good money for really good people.”

Several athletes who have participated in Special Olympics had roles during the event; they helped to introduce dancers and, after the competition concluded, they were part of ensembles that entertained the audience.

Music students Gabe Sagini and Synje Peterson also performed, as string instrumentalists, while votes were being tallied.

Numerous items and gift packages were available for attendees to bid on in a silent auction.

Dancing for Special Stars has been “an incredible success,” said Nancy Hanson, president and CEO of Special Olympics North Dakota.

Since it launched in 2010, it has generated more than $1 million to offset the costs for athletes with intellectual disabilities, allowing them the opportunity to participate in 12 Olympic-type sports, Hanson said.

“There’s nothing like it in town,” she said. “You can go out and have a date night, or come with friends and laugh and smile.”

The added benefit is knowing the funds raised “allow athletes to do things they love and they’re part of a team – sometimes they get left out – and be part of something fun.” Special Olympic athletes “show us the true meaning of sportsmanship,” Hanson said, by the way they support and cheer for each other.

Building the Dancing for Special Stars program “has been really fun,” she said, and this year “the dancers and the instructors have done an outstanding job raising funds for us.”

Although the celebrity dancers are new each year, several of the instructors have participated several times over the past seven years, Muus said. “They play a crucial role in the success of this event. They put in countless hours choreographing their dance, teaching their celebrity and rehearsing.”

Heather Binstock, marking her fifth year as a dance instructor, said she most enjoys “being here for the great cause of the event,” and the way it “challenges the celebrity dancers to step out of the box, the same way our (Special Olympic) athletes step out of the box.”

In weeks rehearsing for the show, a “special bond” is created between the instructor and dance partner, Binstock said. “It’s a lot of fun. As much as people worry, they find that the instructors are willing to work with them.”

The instructor and partner commit many hours to practice, she said, noting that she trained with her partner twice each week for about 13 weeks after they were matched up in January.

“They get more and more into it, and suddenly they start suggesting things,” Binstock said. “There’s this mutual connection, and an instant bond with other dancers.”

Among the event’s three judges, Kaylee Trottier said she looks for “partner connection and the ability to communicate with each other on the dance floor.”

In the past, Trottier has judged the event, and danced in it twice, she said. Given her cheerleading experience, she looks for “timing and alignment” in the routines.

She also bases her scoring on “technique and showmanship,” she said, and how well the dancers connect with the audience.

Overall, though, the judging is “pretty low-key,” Trottier said, because, after all, “it’s about raising money” for the Special Olympics organization.

Many other volunteers contribute to the project as well, including technicians, photographers, ticket takers and ushers, Muus said. Each year, the show’s sound and light technicians Josh Anderson, Chris Decker, Luke Opp, Tyler Smith, Geoff Mercer and Pat Garry volunteer their time and expertise.

The event’s planning committee members include: Teresa Dufner, Chilly Goodman, Michelle Hajicek, Joan Oncken, Joan Schultheis, Carla Steen and Jenna Zavoral, who have been instrumental to this event’s success,” Muus said.

Anyone interested in volunteering as a celebrity dancer or instructor for next year’s event is encouraged to call the Special Olympics North Dakota office at (701) 746-0331.