Bonnie Favero and Damian Wainwright will dance the tango and a Broadway inspired hop dance at the fundraiser dance competition Dancing for the Arts (DFTA).
DFTA is a biennial fundraising dance competition held by Piedmont Arts with the goal to raise money for local arts efforts and programming. Every two year eight teams of two compete against each other to try and raise the most votes from the community before the competition, this year on March 9.
Winners of different categories will be chosen through a combination of judges votes from the day of the event and the votes that are earned in the months up to the event.
Favero and Wainwright will dance the tango to “Whatever Lola Wants” and a Broadway-Hip hop dance to “My Family” from the 2019 “Addams Family” movie. Their dance instructor is Jane Leizer and she is being assisted by Robbie Hendrix-Wirt for the last couple weeks of practice.
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Favero is a preventative program manager at Piedmont Community Services and has worked in the organization for 33 years. She is a member of St. Joseph Church, the ANCHOR Commission, Tackfully Teamed, Smith River Singers and the FAITH Book Club.
Favero has lived in this community for almost 50 years and she has four children, three of whom live locally, and eleven grandchildren. When she got the call asking her to participate, she had agreed to dance by the end of that phone call.
Though she had no formal dance experience before starting practice for the competition, she said she thinks they have made great progress. She has also enjoyed working with Leizer and Wainwright.
“I love dancing, singing, acting — I just really enjoy that,” she said.
“I’m glad she’s my partner,” Wainwright said.
Wainwright is a JROTC Army instructor at Magna Vista High School. He is a former AVID instructor and VHSL official and is associated with the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, American Legion and the VFW.
He moved to Martinsville through the military in 2012 and is married with three children and three grandchildren.
Wainwright was slotted to compete a few years ago, but the event was postponed a year due to the pandemic. When he was asked to dance again this year, he was ready to accept the challenge.
Wainwright had no formal dance experience before outside of casual dancing that didn’t require memorizing moved or synching with a partner.
“We put the time and effort to do a great show for everyone to see,” Wainwright said. “We are going to be the best … And as teachers we really care about the students, not just something to raise money.”
“They should come out and vote for us because they love us and they love Piedmont Arts,” Favero said. “And Piedmont Arts does so much for our community and arts are so important for children in the community who don’t have a lot of exposure to the arts in school without an association like this.”
The other choreographers are Stacey Davis, Catherine Rodenbough and Janeka Hairston.
Each vote ($1 = 1 vote) benefit voters’ favorite teams and raise money to support Piedmont Arts programming in Martinsville-Henry County. Each team’s final score is made up of a combination of votes and the judges’ scores. The team with the highest final score wins the grand prize.
To double votes ($1 = 2 votes), you can apply your total donation toward a Piedmont Arts membership. A $40 minimum is required for this option. Voting will be done on Piedmont Arts’ website, piedmontarts.org and taken during the event.
The competition will take place at 4 p.m. March 9 at the Martinsville High School Auditorium. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $30 for reserved seating and $5 for students K-12 general admission and can also be purchased at piedmontarts.org.
Monique Holland (276)-734-9603
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