I am on Dancing with the Fairbanks Stars. Read everything about the dress try-on, my size challenge, dresses I tried out, what I picked, and see what the other celebrities will wear.
- Dancing with the Stars as a Fundraiser
- How the Fundraising Is Done
- Thanks for the Nomination
- The Dressing Challenge
- No on the Cinderella Inspired Robe
- Pastels Wash Me Out
- The Solo Little Red Dress
- Celebrities and Professionals All Dressed Up
Dancing with the Stars as a Fundraiser
You probably know Dancing with the Stars or some variety of it in your country’s TV. Dancing with the Fairbanks Stars is a fundraiser for the Lathrop High School Ballroom Dance Team taking place at the Tanana Valley Fair in August. The director of the ballroom dance team is Stefani Borrego who is a teacher at Ryan Middle School.
Since 2007, Ms Borrego recruits celebrities from the Fairbanks community to participate as stars for a single competition at the Tanana Valley State Fair. These Fairbanks stars are paired with a dance team member or alumni as the “professional”.

How the Fundraising Is Done
The rules differ from those in the TV show. In Dancing with the Fairbanks Stars, the dance couple wins that raises the most money by the audience’s votes. The audience can buy as many votes they want for $1 per vote. This fundraiser serves to buy new costumes and to pay for the team’s travel to competitions.
Thanks for the Nomination
I feel so honored that was nominated as a star to dance at this fundraiser. Thus, when Ms Borrego contacted me I said “Yes”. She assigned me a dance partner – an alumni of the team. Our first task was to pick a dance, the respective music and outfit. We decided on a Viennese Waltz, and I had to choose the dress.
The Dressing Challenge
Thus, down in the costume storage finding a Viennese Waltz suitable dress in size 2-4 that looks great on me was a real challenge. Most dresses were size M and up.
As my favorite color is black I first tried the dress shown in the first photo of this post. While it flattered me, I had the impression it reads more Argentine Tango than Viennese Waltz on my petite frame with my dark eyes and brown hair. Thus, the “professional” and I both thought it would be a no-no. What do you think?

No on the Cinderella Inspired Robe
Since the “professional” said that the Disney dresses are best for the Viennese Waltz I tried on the smallest one available (photo above). Well it was a bit too big, but twirled, and moved nicely (photo below). However, I felt like Snow-white’s stepmother. No way!

Pastels Wash Me Out
The next try was a light green, off white, and light salmon pink lace dress. While the dress is very nice, it is totally not my style. My photographer even refused to take a photo! Therefore not shown. 😉 Unfortunately there is no way to do some styling tricks to look great in pastel when to outfit is a ballroom dance gown.
The Solo Little Red Dress
I was about to decide to wear my own dress, when one of the helpers asked me whether I would wear that lace dress. I said I would prefer something in a dark color, and while the Disney dress is dark (mostly) it did not work. She asked for my size, and found a single dress somewhere else in red. This dress is so me! Another advantage, it is not as heavy as the lace dress, the Disney dress or my own dress, and hence the momentum after twirling is less.

Celebrities and Professionals All Dressed Up
We finally made a couple of photos with the various competitors that were present. As you see from the following photo we had a lot of fun.

Read how the Dancing with the Fairbanks Stars competition went, and who won. Which of the dresses do you like most?
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Photos: G. Kramm if not mentioned otherwise
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