Dancing with the Austin Stars

This past Sunday Lidiya and I attended Dancing with the Austin Stars, a ballroom dance competition benefiting the Center for Child Protection. Local Austin celebrities were paired with professional dancers, who were given a style of dance and trained for several weeks. They performed their routines in front of a capacity crowd, who then chose a winner by popular vote.

Lidiya and I attended for a few reasons. First, it was benefiting a good cause that we wanted to help. Second, one of professional dancers in the competition is our salsa dance instructor, and we wanted to cheer for him and his celebrity partner. And third, it gave us an excuse to dress up, and as you can see from the picture we looked pretty hot. Ok, she looked much, much hotter, but I cleaned up pretty nice. (We're a pretty unusual couple. She's pretty, I'm unusual.)

As for the dancing itself, the celebrities all did a great job --- some better than others --- but the point was to have fun and raise money. Some of the dancing styles performed were flashier and bigger crowd-pleasers, but each one received a generous ovation upon completion. The inaugural event was won by Bill Jones, a law partner with Vinson & Elkins, who danced a salsa. It was also my personal favorite, although I thought our instructor Danny Davila and his celebrity partner Cecilia Abbott (Attorney General Greg Abbott’s wife) did an excellent job with their mambo. I also enjoyed the performance by lobbyist Andrea McWilliams, who danced a very elegant waltz.

The event was a huge success, so they plan on having it again next year. Keep your calendars open and come join us. Who knows, by that time I might have done something worthy of fame and you could come watch Lidiya perform.