A night in the spotlight
The lights were burning, my heart was thumping and my hands were shaking as we prepared to take the stage for Saturday night’s Dancing with the Forsyth County Stars competition.
“It’s just you and me,” said Ranko Bogosavac, my partner and instructor. He took my hand and looked into my eyes to steady my nerves. “There’s no one else out there. We’re just dancing together like always.”
I smiled nervously at him and nodded, feigning more confidence than I felt.
I heard Emcee Busta Brown call our names. It was time.
We stepped onto the stage at the Millennium Center, the music started and suddenly we were dancing the mambo.
I moved toward Ranko, shaking my hips and sliding my hands up and along my body. The crowd cheered.
I felt sexy, I felt graceful, I felt alive.
Then I hit a slick spot on the stage and just felt lucky to still be standing upright. I’d missed a turn, but I didn’t think anyone who didn’t know our routine would notice.
The rest of the dance is a blur. I remember hitting a few more slippery spots and sliding a bit, but never falling, thank heavens.
I remember Ranko lifting me and spinning me around in a big, flashy turn. And I remember doing the death drop at the end of the routine, taking Ranko’s hands and letting my body plummet toward the stage.
Then it was over. I was standing, the audience was applauding, and Ranko and I were taking our bows.
We had done it.
It wasn’t my best performance of the routine ever, but I felt pretty good about it.
The judges’ remarks were kind. The ones I remember the most came from Lynn Felder, a former Dancing With the Forsyth County Stars champion, an amazing dancer and my friend and former colleague at the Journal. She said she “relished” my performance (get it?) and that I lived up to my nickname of Miss Glimmer (a name she gave me because our spell-check program would always suggest that she change Gilmor to Glimmer when she would type my name into messages).
I was grateful for their praise, although they would not determine who had given the best performance. That would be left to the audience.
I left the stage, still shaking a little and relieved that it was over. I hugged Ranko, who then ran off to get changed for his performance with State Rep. Earline Parmon, which was coming up soon. I ran off to meet my friends, find a glass of wine and enjoy the rest of the performances.
Which I did.
Everyone did a great job, particularly Rodney Ellis, the vice president of the N.C. Association of Educators. He really had the crowd going with his smooth moves. The audience chose him for Best Performance, and he deserved it.
Parmon won for Best Costume, also well deserved.
And I won for Overall Commitment for raising the most money for Communities in Schools.
I went home with a trophy, a plaque, a big basket of goodies from Dewey’s, and an even bigger smile on my face.
I’d had such a great time, not only on the night of the competition, but throughout my training. It was a huge honor to be invited to participate, a rare privilege to be taught by a world-class dancer such as Ranko, and a treat to meet all the fantastic people at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Clemmons.
As I was leaving to go home, I ran up to hug Ranko and thank him profusely yet again.
His response: “I’m giving you one week off.”
Then, he said, he wants to start teaching me to dance for real – not just memorizing one routine, but really learning the full spectrum of ballroom dancing.
I thought about that as I left the newsroom last night. For the first time in a long time, I had no commitments in the evening. I had no dance lesson to go to, no RiverRun film festival screeners to review. It was just me, my dog and the TV.
So what did I watch? “Dancing with the Stars.”
Yep, I’m hooked. See you next week, Ranko.
Susan Gilmor dancing with the Forsyth County Stars
Video: Susan Gilmor dancing with the Forsyth County Stars