Louie Bradley feels the love after he and partner Michele Quinn win the contest.
It was the fourth year for the Delaware County Gaels terpsichorean fundraiser, Dancing Like a Star, and it just keeps getting better and better.
Eight couples competed in foxtrot, swing, and dances of various eras at the event, which drew 700 people to the Springfield Country Club on February 20. Jennaphr Frederick of Fox 29 put in her third year as event emcee, though Bob Kelly, who recently joined the Fox affiliate after years with CBS3, blew in for a brief appearance. Judges included dancers and dance instructors Carole Orlandi Barr, Wayne St. David, and Jenna Rose Pepe, with guest judge Peter Papas, of the Philadelphia Union broadcast team and veteran goalie with the Philadelphia Kixx.
The winners, who were selected not only on their abilities to dance but to also raise money, were Louie Bradley, chairman of the youth Gaelic sports league, and Michele Quinn owner of Blush Salon who has been part of the styling team getting the couples ready for their stage debuts.
We were there from start to finish and got before, after, and a few in-between candids of the couples who were:
Irish-born Paul Hurley, who played Gaelic football himself, and Siobhan McGrory, originally from Tyrone, who has been involved in Irish dancing.
Donegal’s own Dermot “Gogie” O’Donnell, who played football and danced, and is now coach of the Gael’s U14s, and Colette Morgan, a nurse whose two sons play for the Gaels.
Jason Fialkovich, known as Mr. Jason, the children’s librarian at the Middletown Free Library, and Beth Hamilton, a mother of two who works in marketing for a pharmaceutical company and is an accomplished dancer.
Mark Procknow, a Kensington native and student athlete, who now lives in Havertown, and Eileen Corr, the daughter of Irish immigrants who is married to a man from Tyrone.
Tom Kane, who is the owner of the Brick and Brew in Havertown, and Chrissy Penezic, a South Philly native now living in Havertown, who is a media strategy director (and won a “Hustle” contest as a teenager).
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