The 16th annual Dancing with the Stars Quinte took place at the CAA Arena Friday night.
Eight pairs competed against each other performing different styles of dance including country, jazz, freestyle, Broadway and more.
Between each contestant’s performance were performances from students of the trainers including Dance with Miss Liz, Astounding Heights Dance Academy and Ireland Academy of Dance.
There was also a performance from the Airforce City Pipe Band that featured the Celtic Flight Dancers.
“You can feel the electricity in the arena,” Executive Director of Volunteer & Information Quinte, Brenda Snider, tells media.
“All of our dancers gave 150%, it’s the closest we’ve ever had in our voting and it’s just, overall, been a wonderful night. Having the dance teams here, the Celtic flight dancers with the pipes and drums, it just brought it to a whole new level.”
Snider also spoke on the ability to showcase the trainers’ dance academies and schools as part of the event.
“Each of our dance instructors have the opportunity to bring their schools out and do a 12-minute kind of routine, so they can have three or four different routines,” Snider said.
“It’s a great opportunity to showcase the work that they do, because lots of them are professional dance instructors and own dance schools, and they work hard. So this is on top of their work. So bringing their kids out, and everybody loves to see those kids dance, it just brings a whole new level and just makes people feel good.”
Before the dances began, there was a brief awards ceremony recognizing those who volunteered their time to the community.
Awards included the Maurice Rollins Youth Leadership Award, VIQ Volunteer Businessperson of the Year, and the Volunteer & Information HPE Ruth Burrows Volunteer of the Year Award.
The winners of the awards are as follows:
- Maurice Rollins Youth Leadership Award ($2000 bursary) – Lena Hemus
- Maurice Rollins Youth Leadership Award ($1500 bursary) – Aislyn Kull
- Maurice Rollins Youth Leadership Award ($1000 bursary) – Sarah Williams
- VIQ Volunteer Businessperson of the Year – Darrell Smith
- Volunteer & Information HPE Ruth Burrows Volunteer of the Year Award – Bruce Dowdell
PHOTOS BELOW:
Lena Hemus is the winner of the Maurice Rollins Youth Leadership Award ($2000 bursary). May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Aislyn Kull is the winner of the Maurice Rollins Youth Leadership Award ($1500 bursary). May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Sarah Williams is the winner of the Maurice Rollins Youth Leadership Award ($1000 bursary). May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Darrell Smith is the VIQ Business Person of the Year. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Bruce Dowdell is the winner of the 2024 Ruth Burrows Volunteer of the Year Award. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
As for the top three pairs in Dancing with the Stars Quinte, it was a tight race with only eight votes separating third place and first place.
Here are the final rankings:
- Kailey Smith and Evan Furnidge
- Jesse & Joe Kuipers
- Emilie Leneveu & Taylor Russett
Money raised from the event goes towards programs for VIQ.
Snider spoke about some of the different programs that VIQ helps support and how the funds raised will help continue to deliver that support.
“We average anywhere between 35 to 45 volunteer interviews a month, and those volunteers go directly back into our community to support organizations like community care, our Meals on Wheels program, our transportation programs, our youth centres, our hospice programs, all of those individual organizations, they don’t function without volunteers. They are essential to the programming.”
MORE PHOTOS BELOW:
Judges Carson Arthur, Jennifer Baldam, Lori Foster and Al Lewis. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Dancing with the Stars Quinte hosts Tim Durkin with Quinte Broadcasting and Paul Ferguson with Starboard Communications. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Beginning of the performance from Yashu and Anna Siwakoti for Dancing with the Stars Quinte. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Performance from Marie Pineault and Jimmy McLean at the 16th Dancing with the Stars Quinte. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
A Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce inspired performance from Joe & Jesse Kuipers. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Michael & Sarita Van Dyke’s performance at the 16th annual Dancing with the Stars Quinte. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Julia Ross and Ryan Howard getting the crowd to do the “YMCA” at the 16th Dancing with the Stars Quinte. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Emilie Leneveu & Taylor Russett with their Waltz with a Twist performance at Dancing with the Stars Quinte. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Alex Anthony and Jill Sherrard set the scene for their performance at Dancing with the Stars Quinte. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Kailey Smith and Evan Furmidge’s winning performance based on Beyonce’s TEXAS HOLD’EM country song. May 24, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
