Derman And White Take Dancing With The Stars Contest

The third installment of Dancing With the Stars proved to be another successful show as the dancers flipped, kicked and shook their way around the dance floor.
Renaissance Columbia's 2009 Dancing With The Stars once again filled the bleachers of the Adair County Middle School gym as over 800 people came to see who would take home the grand prize of $1,000 and what moves the dancers would use to get it.
On Saturday, June 6th at 7:00 pm, excitement filled the air as eight couples prepared to entertain the audience and dance their way to victory.
(Unfortunately, the ninth couple consisting of Dana Walker and Ben Burris had to bow out of the competition due to a knee injury that occurred during a practice session.)
With the audience at the edge of their seats in anticipation, Dancing With The Stars host Craig Dean got the show underway by introducing each of the judges and each of the couples.
As with the past two years Dean also informed the audience of three secret judges, who would be judging the competition from the audience.
The show opened with a song from the movie Flashdance, performed by Paige Hutchinson to warm up the crowd before the dancers began cutting a rug.
The first couple to take the stage for judges Miss Kentucky 2008 Emily Cox, Attorney Kevin Shearer of Jamestown and Susan Stringer from Casey County, was Karen McAnelly and Bam Carney as they danced freestyle to ‘Rock and Roll is Here to Stay,"
and received a respectable score of 21.
Ann-Marie Pike and Darren Pike, a father-daughter team, took to the floor next as they danced the Tango to "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," and received a score of 23 for their efforts.
The third couple to take the stage was Amy Thompson and Charles Grimsley who danced the Jive to "This Thing Called Love," and took over the lead with a score of 24.
The fourth contestants to perform for the judges was David and Debbie Nunery of Campbellsville, who danced the Cha-Cha to "Ain't No Other Man" and set a new standard for the competition with a perfect score of 30 to close the first half of the show.
During the intermission the audience was entertained with another song from Hutchinson and a few dances from the Tumble Towne Motivators.
Sarah Thompson and Chaz Dunn opened the second half of the show with a free style dance to the song "Car Wash" as they twisted and turned their way around the dance floor and received a score of 25 from the judges.
The next couple to perform was Sir Erwin Lepiarczyk and Glenda Butler who danced a Polka and ended with a score 21.
Helen Kendrick and Randy Ussery took to the floor as the seventh couple to perform and danced a version of the Salsa to the song "Babarabatiri," and had the crowd cheering in approval as they glided around the floor in a spicy version of the popular Latin dance.
As the judges held up their scores the audience showed their disapproval with boos as the first score from Cox was a 9 followed by two 10s for a total of 29.
The final couple attempting to dance their way to hearts of the judges was last year's runner-up, Dezirae Derman and Joey White doing a mixture of the Jive, Lindy Hop, and Swing to the song "Rock This Town."
Derman and White stepped out ready to take the competition to a new level with a combination of traditional Jive moves complete with flips, turns and swing style rolls. Derman and White danced their way to the second perfect score of the night leaving it to the score of the secret judges to decide the winner.
The audience was treated to another song by Hutchinson followed by an open floor dance with members from the audience and the couples moving and shaking around the floor, while the scores were totaled with the scores from secret judges Erica Sprowl of Campbellsville, Kim Hayden of Russell Springs and Tracy Moore of Greensburg.
The couples then took the stage as a group for the best costume and crowd favorite awards.
The audience screamed and hollered for their favorites as Dean went over the couples one by one.
The judges narrowed it down to the three couples of Derman and White, Kendrick and Ussery, and Thompson and Dunn for the crowd favorite.
However Derman and White proved to be the undisputed winner and took home the crowd favorite award as the David and Debbie Nunery took home the prize for best costume.
It was then time to announce the 1st runner-up for $500.00 and the winner of the $1,000.00 grand prize.
As the crowd waited in anticipation Dean announced David and Debbie Nunery as the first runner-up and then jumped to their feet as Derman and White brought in the highest score and took home the first place prize after two consecutive years as the runner-up.
"I thought it was great show and their dancers gave wonderful performances through out the night," stated event organizer Rhonda Loy.
Loy closed saying, "We want to thank everyone involved for his or her hard work and dedication over the past few months."
This year's competition included a special concession stand as Renaissance Columbia allowed the Adair County Band to keep the proceeds, which was a little over $850.00, from the concessions to go toward their upcoming trip to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Photo: Dezirae Derman and Joey White perform a rollover flip during their winning 2009 Dancing With The Stars routine last Saturday night. (Photo by Lawrence Harris)