Naperville celebrities swept the crowd off its feet at the 16th annual Dancing with the Celebrities competition.
Hosted by the Career & Networking Center, eight Naperville notables took center stage at the Aura Club & Conventions on Thursday night.
Naperville notables dancing for a cause
“Dancing with the Celebrities is our signature fundraising event that we have been doing since 2010,” said White. “We bring the community together to learn about the work that we do at the Career Networking Center.”
From country to musical numbers to 70s throwbacks, local celebrities learned the moves from their professional partners at I Just Wanna Dance and Arthur Murray dance studios.
This year’s competitors were:
- Dan Brosseau, Owner and President, Two Maids of Naperville/Aurora
- Jimmy Calvo, West Branch Real Estate and Calvo Law Offices
- Sara Cleland, Manager, Personal Training, Life Time
- Atusa Freyer, Owner and Producer, THRIVEFest
- Amanda McMillen, Executive Director, Alive Center
- Gabby Wolf, General Sales Manager, Lexus of Naperville
- Ashfaq Syed, Councilman, City of Naperville
- Sherilyn Hebel, Director of Programs, KidsMatter
The show also included a mother-daughter dance performed by Jessica Tevaga Ruhl and La’akea Tevaga, both of LifeSculpt.
Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice winners
Two pairs walked away as overall winners, but everyone took home smaller trophies for awards like most spirited, most stylin’ and best twinkle toes.
Owner and Producer of THRIVEFest Atusa Fryer and her partner, Sevgi Alkan, earned the Judges’ Choice Award.
“It’s very fulfilling because you spend weeks practicing and you put your heart into it, and you kind of tap into a spot that you haven’t really explored before,” Fryer said.
Executive Director of the Alive Center Amanda McMillen and her partner, Jake Diaz, won the audience’s vote with the People’s Choice Award.
“From day one we came in, and I was like, I would love to win people’s favorite. I just had no idea that it would actually come to fruition, but it just feels incredible,” McMillen said.
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