Dentists, dancers and donors filled the Saban Theatre on Aug. 23 for a night of music, dancing and fundraising for children in need. The event, modeled after the show “Dancing with the Stars,” included a couple’s dance competition and a live auction, raising over $250,000. The money will go directly to the Giving a Smile Foundation, the nonprofit that sponsored the evening. Through the foundation, Drs. Rodney and Justin Raanan provide dental care to children in need whose families cannot afford it. The brothers each pledged to match the donations raised at the event, tripling its impact.
The funds will help the Raanans find new ways to impact the community. “Our larger, more ambitious goal is to establish a permanent, easily accessible clinic that will serve as a lasting resource for those who need our care the most,” Rodney said in his speech.
Throughout the event, which was hosted by television producer Roy Ice, 17 couples of different skill levels participated in a dance competition, each raising money for the foundation. Some had never danced on a stage before, and others had years of experience. Participants were all volunteers, and each couple had six weeks to prepare for the big night by training with international dance professionals. Some performed well-known numbers like salsa or the waltz, while others decided on completely original choreography. The mood of most of the night was light-hearted and upbeat, but the last couple left the audience —and the judges— in tears.
Lance Lasiter took the audience by surprise when he brought his wife, Jessica, on stage in a wheelchair. The couple, who are known by many in the community for their unique love story, performed a slow dance with original choreography that involved spins, dips and loving gazes. Tears filled the eyes of even the toughest of the judges as a video of the couples’ high school photos played over “I Won’t Give Up” by Jason Mraz. The Lasiters’ full story, including Jessica’s diagnoses of ALS and Lyme disease, will be featured in a film documentary, but this was a special opportunity to focus not on what makes them different, but what makes them just like everyone else.
The couple won first place according to the judges’ score, but after the donations and fundraising were calculated for each couple, which made up 50% of the final scores, the Lasiters ended up in 4th place. Christy Lemay and Douglas Bush, who performed a modern lyrical dance, took third place. Justin Raanan and Co-Vice Chair of the Maple Counseling Center Board of Directors, Myra Lurie, took second place for their jazz number, and first place went to Lauren Stephen and JD Carney, who wowed the audience with flips and spins.
The dancers were scored by ANVL Entertainment CEO Lucas Foster and Producer Holly Carney, and each team earned extra points for the tickets they sold and the donations they raised. Although, as Rodney pointed out, everyone walked away as a winner by raising money for the children.
