Bri Roll had just moved back to Seymour after a 10 year absence and wanted to find a way to get reconnected to the community.
Alex Cazares was a Boys & Girls Club kid who decided it was time to give back to the organization that helped him become the man he is today.
Although they didn’t know each other, the stars were aligned just right when the two were paired together to compete in the sixth annual Dancing with the Seymour Stars fundraiser.
In a showstopping routine set to music from the popular movie “The Greatest Showman,” Roll and Cazares dazzled the audience Saturday night at Celebrations in Seymour.
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Their daring flips, lifts and energetic dance moves won over voters who used their money to put the pair in first place.
Coming in second was Katrina Hardwick and Shawn Charlton with their Bonnie and Clyde quick step gangster routine and in third place was the husband and wife team of Ashley and Dr. Andrew Dec with their Bruno Mars-inspired uptown funk choreography.
This year’s event raised a record $101,793 which benefits the Boys & Girls Club of Seymour and Seymour Main Street to help provide programming for youth and improve the downtown.
Roll and Cazares got paired through a mutual friend, Gary Green, who happens to be on the Dancing with the Seymour Stars Committee. Roll works with Green at JCB and Green is a member at Anytime Fitness, where Cazares is a personal trainer.
“After we met for the first time, we told each other, ‘If we’re going to do this, we’re going to win this,’” Cazares said. “We spent the next three months pouring our heart and soul, blood, sweat, tears, everything into it.”
Working with Liz Copeland, who won the event in 2015 with Tom Lewis and Patti Terrell and Angie Mellencamp, who won last year with Dr. Nate Otte, they were able to put together a difficult and memorable routine.
“It was very challenging,” Cazares said of their dance. “But it’s a night I’ll remember forever.”
Hardwick has danced in all six years of the event. Last year, she and her partner came in third place.
“Every year has been a blast for me,” she said. “But this year my partner was committed to the fundraising in a way that was next level. He was beating the streets, and we even did a couple of little events to raise money.”
Although the event is a competition, Hardwick said everyone becomes friends.
“We had a great friendly rivalry with Bri and Alex,” she said. “I think we pushed each other and I think that really made us step up our game.”
Hardwick says it can be a lot of hard work and tiring preparing for Dancing with the Seymour Stars, but when she sees the video from the kids at Boys and Girls Club thanking everyone involved, she knows it’s all been worth it.
“When I think about the total amount of money we raised tonight, and the fact when it’s all said and done, the Boys & Girls Club is going to get what would take them I don’t even know how long to raise on their own, there’s not words for how awesome this is,” she said.
For his first year dancing, Charlton described the night as “an absolute blast.”
“I wanted to make this as big as we could,” he said.
Before Dancing with the Seymour Stars, Charlton said his dance experience was limited to a 30 second appearance in a school musical and his winning performance in the Mr. SHS competition.
“I’ve seen Dance Moms a lot and watched Dancing with the Stars a lot too,” he said. “So I felt pretty good going into it. And I had the absolute best teacher in Katrina.”
He couldn’t have had a better time, he said.
“We raised a lot of money, I got to hang out with all these amazing people and I learned how to dance a little,” he said.
Other dancers this year included Kelley Gillaspy and Matt Nieman, Alexa Ulrey and Brandon Joray, Theresa and Rob Schwartz, Ana De Gante and Frankie Galicia and Sarah Arnold and Shintaro Takeuchi.
Money is raised through the dancers with every $1 earning a vote, ticket sales and major event sponsors including Dick and Patty Elmore, JCB Investment Services, Schneck Medical Center, Smith Law Services, B&H Electric and JCB.
More than 500 people attended the sold out show which included a catered meal from The Pines and another 300 bought tickets to the matinee performance earlier in the day.
Started in 2013, the event has now raised more than $540,000 for the Boys & Girls Club and Seymour Main Street and has become a favorite tradition among participants and attendees.
Ryon Wheeler, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Seymour, said the money from the event allows the club to continue its mission to provide a safe place for kids to learn and grow while having fun with their peers and interacting with adult mentors.
The club offers programs in education, character and leadership, the arts, healthy lifestyles and sports, fitness and recreation.
Dancing with the Seymour Stars helps keep club membership fees low so all kids have the opportunity to join, Wheeler said.
In the past five years, nearly 7,000 children have attended the club equaling 34.8 million hours of impact, he added.
New programs at the club this year include an indoor playground for toddlers, robotics, makerspace, Bible study, art, ballet, SMART Girls, Passport to Manhood, Fit365, Junior Helpers and new scholarship opportunities.
Seymour Main Street Executive Director Becky Schepman said Dancing with the Seymour Stars is about people coming together to celebrate the important work being done in the community.
The organization’s main priorities are to plan, promote and preserve the historic integrity, cultural vibrancy, safety and full accessibility of the downtown for business endeavors and all citizens, Schepman said.
It is responsible for new benches, pedestrian signs and painted crosswalks downtown and events including the Downtown Shoparounds, a downtown scavenger hunt and Ghouls and Goblets.
Schepman said there are eight new businesses that have installed new awnings, signs or facades recently thanks to financial assistance through the Seymour Main Street grant and loan program.
“I’ve always said that the downtown is the heart and soul of the city and if your downtown is not thriving, then you are not thriving,” she said. “I truly believe that the downtown is our community and I believe that the Boys & Girls Club is our future. We truly are a small town with big dreams.”
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Winners in the 2018 Dancing with the Seymour Stars
First place: Bri Roll and Alex Cazares
Second place: Katrina Hardwick and Shawn Charlton
Third place: Ashley and Dr. Andrew Dec
History of winners:
2017 – Angie Mellencamp and Dr. Nate Otte
2016 – Becky Boas and Brad Boas
2015 – Tom Lewis, Elizabeth Copeland and Patti Terrell
2014 – Tom and Dana Bollinger
2013 – Dr. Charlie Calhoun and Tammy Lewis
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