Gogi O’Donnell practices a dip with instructor Lisa Oster.
For the past three years, Louie Bradley has suited up for the Delaware County Gael’s popular fundraiser, Dance Like a Star, in which eight couples vie for a trophy while raising money for the youth Gaelic sports club. He didn’t dance. He just made a little speech. He’s president of the organization.
But this year, he’ll be suited up and wearing his dancing shoes. His partner is Michelle Quinn, owner of Blush Salon in Newtown Square, who until this year was just contributing her styling skills to the event. “She’s way out of her element,” said Bradley, with a mischievous grin, when I talked to him after Sunday dance practice at Cara School of Irish Dance in Drexel Hill. “I’m out of mine too. I don’t have feet, I’ve got hooves!”
A couple of years ago, Paul McDaid was helping his DJ brother John with the music for DLAS. This year, he’s wearing a tutu, dancing with Heather Crossan. “I said I would do this on one condition,” says the 29-year-old, a recent immigrant from Letterkenny, County Donegal. “I’d do it if Louie Bradley would do it.”
(There’s a family connection here: Louie Bradley and John McDaid are married to sisters; their wives Carmel Bradley and Una McDaid are part of the committee that pulls off this extravaganza at Springfield Country Club every year.)
Some of the contestants, like Colette Morgan of Media, are Delco Gaels parents. “I got asked to be a stand-in at the last minute, and the club has been so good to me and my family, helping us with our travel expenses when the teams travel, that I couldn’t say no—it was a no-brainer,” says the mother of two teens.
One, Dermott “Gogi” O’Donnell, is a coach of the under 12 team. A couple of years ago, he has a small part—as a garda—in one of the dance sketches, but signed up as a contestant this year “because the kids asked me to.”
But you don’t have to be related or a parent to be part of the fun. Beth Hamilton volunteered because a friend who attended last year “told me it had my name written all over it. I love to dance,” says Hamilton, who does tap and jazz at the McHenry Dance Centre in Havertown.
The dancers practice every Sunday with two choreographers, Jennifer Cleary and Lisa Oster. In previous years, the dancers started the event with a waltz, did a group dance, and then each couple stole the spotlight with a special freestyle dance that involves costumes, fancy steps, and sometimes a little acrobatics.
“We decided to change it up this year,” said Cleary. “We’re opening with a foxtrot, then a swing dance, and then each of the couples pulled a decade out of a hat and they’ll be doing dances from that decade.”
The practice schedule can be grueling. In addition to the three-and-a-half hour Sunday rehearsals they’ve had every week since the beginning of January, the contestants meet with Jennifer or Lisa during the week to go over their steps and sometimes the couples get together for extra practice. “I dance in my basement,” says Bradley, laughing.
“We’ve all pretty much been eating, sleeping, working and dancing for the last five weeks,” says Morgan, who is also a fulltime nurse. “It’s been a lot of fun though. It’s stressful learning all these new moves, but hopefully it will all come together.”
It needs to come together by Friday, February 20. Tickets are $45 and aren’t available at the door. You have to order online, or contact Carmel Bradley at pbradley1510@gmail.com (610-789-9697) or Lorna Corr at aidanlorna@verizon.net (610-353-5556). You can also buy votes for your favorite couple online.
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