As a guy who plays drums with his church’s worship team, Scott Carlson brings to Dancing with the Mankato Stars something not always present in Olivia Weisbecker’s partners: natural rhythm.
Weisbecker is using that talent to her advantage, pushing the teacher and North Mankato mayor to bring out more personality in the dance they will perform Saturday in Dancing with the Mankato Stars 2024: The Last Dance.
This year is a turning point for the community fundraiser that should reach $1 million in total contributions to the American Red Cross. As the final Mankato Stars event, it will give way to a new, as yet undetermined future event.
“Because he has rhythm, that makes it extremely easy for me because I think half the battle is trying to get them on beat,” Weisbecker said about Carlson. If dancers can stay on beat, they can have more fun showing who they really are, she said.
“Dig that personality. He has a big personality for the stage,” Weisbecker said with a smile.
Because they already knew each other — “He kind of taught me everything I know,” she said kiddingly, referring to dance classes at Monroe Elementary School — she also thinks she can be more direct in pointing out, shall we say, deficiencies.
He was asked to participate last year, but being in his first year as mayor made that difficult, he said. This year has still been tough, balancing teaching, serving as mayor and parenting, but he’s having fun.
“I haven’t had a lot of time to practice, but even today I sat down and nailed a bunch of stuff” listening to the music, said Carlson, 52. To prove that, he and Weisbecker, 26, did a run through of the songs by … oops! That’s a secret.
In their first run, Weisbecker described the movements as she and Carlson walked through. Adding music the second time revealed the truth of Carlson’s earlier statement as things seemed to fall into place easily in the 2-minute dance.
“We wanted to end on the highest note possible,” said founder Mitzi Ohman of Dance Express. “We’ve been doing this event for over 10 years now, so we were just feeling like we want to make sure that we’re not exhausting it because we want to end where everyone is still excited about it.”
The idea was borrowed from a friend in La Crosse, Wisconsin, but immediately surpassed that event’s success by about 10 times. The first year at the Kato Ballroom showed a larger venue was needed.
“Our (success) was because of Mankato’s sense of community,” Ohman said. “I feel like the people come out in droves, they support these stars.” That isn’t always the case for studios in larger towns.
This year’s lineup includes Mitch and Sidney Elofson from The Picklebarn, Jones Metal “Metal Heads, star Evan Taylor with pro Tiana FitzSimmons, Eric Geisthardt with alum Megan Hanly, Dr. Vasan Ramamuja with dance pro Katie Navara, Dr. Eric Page with his spouse, Jen Page, Dr. Tara Krosch with DWTMS alum Peter Snyder, Andy Johnson with Marissa Starkey, Ben Braswell with Emily Elverum, Cheri Rohlfing with alum Matt Atwood, and Brad Jackson with his wife, Stacy Jackson.
Event alumni are encouraged to come back for a special dance to celebrate its success. In addition, there will be a special Signature Toast with some of the proceeds going to the Red Cross.
The event has been rewarding on so many levels, beyond the donations to the American Red Cross. It shows that level of support Ohman first found when she introduced it.
“I feel like every year you watch the stars kind of come in with that deer in the headlights look,” she said. “They’re like, ‘What have I gotten myself into.’ They’re so scared, so nervous. And then you get to know their personalities throughout the whole process.”