Live to Dance Voting
Stay tuned for The Arc's Second Annual Live to Dance with The Arc Stars event scheduled for
Friday, April 27th at Kid's Unlimited!
A BIG thank you to everyone who helped The Arc in Jackson County raise money to improve the quality of life for people who experience intellectual and developmental disabilities by voting for their favorite dancers or dance couples performing at our incredibly INSPIRING “Live to Dance with The Arc Stars” event on March 12th, 2011! The voting results and awards are below.
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Matt May and Julie Brown – Country Western People's Choice Award
Matt, a Member of The Arc of Jackson County, was born in Salem but according to Matt his home is Medford, Oregon. Matt says he loves living here because the most important thing is his family and friends. Matt’s Alma mater is Crater High, but his favorite college team is Oregon State. You can catch Matt down at the local YMCA and his training program helps keep him in shape for his favorite Special Olympic sport, “power-lifting”. A stop at Matt’s home will confirm that this young man loves his team the Green Bay Packers and he was right in his prediction on their recent Super Bowl win. Walking into his living room will confirm his love for sports, but his favorites are football, soccer, and baseball. Matt’s favorite song is, “Into the Great Wide Open” by artist Tom Petty, but you can catch him exploring beyond his comfort zone, doing a mean two-step at The Arc’s fundraiser Live to Dance with The Arc Stars.
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Kama Kirby and Jerry Pariseau – Ballroom Most Enthusiastic Award
Kama was born in Mariposa, CA and has lived in seven different states and territories of the U.S. Hence, she has a love for travel! She is a cheerful young woman who enjoys all that life brings her way! She loves the arts and is an acrylic painter at The Studio at Living Opportunities, to see her work check out www.livingopps.org/thestudio. Her hobbies are Special Olympics, riding quads at the dunes, friends and family, animals, mostly cats, dogs and horses, and now she has added dance to her list of favorite things! Jerry, a native Oregonian, was born here in Medford. He was inspired to dance by his older sister who needed an escort to attend a dance. At age 13, he quickly learned a few steps and thought dancing was pretty cool. He went through the Medford school system and then joined the Army Reserve. He saw an ad for a dance instructor at the Arthur Murray School of Dance, applied and thus began his official dance career in 1964. He is a retired FEMA worker where he assisted with hurricanes and other natural disasters, but dance has always been his love. He teaches both public and private lessons and donates his time to charity events. He was with the Jazz Festival for 10 years with their dance program and now he is donating his time to The Arc of Jackson County. He enjoys dance because it’s rewarding and you meet a lot of great people! |
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Esten Lindsay and Emilie Sampson – Fox Trot Best Musicality Award
Eston is from Medford and just celebrated his 27th birthday. He graduated from North Medford High School in 2003. He went to Nationals in Iowa in 2006 with his Special Olympics basketball team. Eston is employed with Living Opportunities. He enjoys all types of music, artwork, collecting older made cars and likes Peterbuilt trucks, trains. He has a great likeable personality and he has always wanted to work in a radio station…AND his passion has always been music, but now he’s adding Dancing! Emilie, a Board Member of The Arc of Jackson County, was born and raised a California girl, and now runs two local programs that serve families who have children with disabilities; Jackson County Parent to Parent and Families For Community. She is the mother of three sons, the youngest of who experiences autism. A passionate advocate both at the local and state level, Emilie is excited to help raise money for The Arc of Jackson County in this Live to Dance event. When not working, Emilie loves photography, scrapbooking, and spending time with her husband of 12 years, Matt, and their boys. Though her dancing journey has only begun in the last year, Emilie has fallen in love with ballroom. She is excited to learn the Foxtrot with her dance partner Eston, and hopes that others follow their example to step out and try something new! |
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Violet White and Troy Kelly – Modern Most Original Award
Violet, My name is Violet Elaine White. I’m 24 years old and I live in Central Point, Oregon. I work at the Medford Olive Garden. I’m a busser and I roll silverware. My favorite thing to do is dance. I go to the Easter Seals Program; they have a dance every first Saturday of the month, they are so much fun! I do a lot of sports for Special Olympics, like volleyball and track and right now I’m playing basketball and I’m very good at it. The one dream I have had for a long time is to be a famous dancer or singer. I’m so excited to dance for Live to Dance with The Arc Stars and I can’t wait to perform. It’s going to be so much fun dancing with Troy Kelly from KISS FM. Troy is an on air DJ mid-days from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm on 107.5 KISS FM including “The Back in the Day Café” bringing back the Old School Hip Hop weekdays from 12:00 pm -1:00 pm. Troy was born in Pocatello, ID…and yes he likes potatoes…then his family moved to Wyoming in the second grade and then to Oregon as a freshman in high school in 1993. After graduating from NMHS (GO BLACK TORNADO!) in 1997, he held a few different jobs from selling cell phones to managing a flooring store before he found his passion for radio nine years ago. He entertains people any way possible…and he means ANY WAY, just ask him about the NO SHOES NO SHIRT POLICY or the time he was cupid on the corner of McAndrews & Biddle Roads. Troy has two amazing kids, his son Andrew is 6, and his daughter Autumn is 3. In his free time he loves to stay active from going to the gym to camping and pretty much anything that involves laughter. He is an active participant in local organizations including the American Cancer Society as the Relay for Life Entertainment Chairperson. |
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Juliana Faulkner & Adam Kightlinger– Hip Hop Best Performance Award
Julianna was born in California and recently moved to Ashland after having grown up in Park City, Utah. Julianna has three brothers that adore her, a family and many friends and co-workers in Utah, California and Oregon. Juls works at Old Navy in Medford and at the YMCA in Ashland. Besides dancing, which has been a love of hers all her life, Julianna enjoys music; movies; working out with her trainer; travel; hanging out with family and friends; and carrot cake! She has also enjoyed skiing for the past 20 years and has won several medals in downhill slalom with the Special Olympics. See Video Here
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Elena Norris and Jim Norris – Waltz Most Inspirational Award
Elena is the oldest daughter of Jim and Jane Norris and big sister to Sadie. Elena loves books and has a library of selections in her room. She also enjoys playing games on the computer and Wii. Elena has an incredible memory and can remember even the smallest details about a person, place or conversation. Since autism touched their lives some six years ago, Jim and Jane understand the importance of supporting families affected by autism and helping them find resources to help them and their children. Together, they annually host the Southern Oregon Autism Awareness Gala and with the assistance of others, raise funds to help improve the lives of children and their families impacted by autism. This year, the Autism Awareness Gala will be held on Friday, April 1st with proceeds benefiting Families for Community, a program created to help those in our community who experience a disability. |
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Hey, I’m Adam Kightlinger and I’ve been a dancer at heart since I was the age of 7 loving music with beats and trying to impersonate Michael Jackson’s Moon Walk and poping. Hip hop overcame my life at the age of 14 where I would sing and dance along with singers like Usher and Justin Timberlake. With dance, singing was a huge highpoint in my life motivating me to become the best artist I could be. At the end of my teen years, Ballroom dancing shot in my life and was the competitive zing I needed to push myself into a stronger dancer. I competed in the annual Pear Blossom Ballroom Dancing competition winning second 2 years in a row. Of all the dances, I can truly say I will always be a hip hop dancer at heart, loving the pop and lock style trying to isolate each dimension of my body. Being an artist in both singing and dancing will always impact my life in a substantial way.
