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On Oct. 19, Sammy Warnement, her mom, Pamela Pearson, and her friend Ellen McDermott went to see the Season 5 cast of the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance."
Sammy's a high school junior and has been on the Charlotte Catholic High School dance team for two years. She's been dancing since she was 21/2, undertaking all styles "except for ballroom and Irish step dancing."
She said she loves the show and especially loved watching the dancers this past season.
The reality TV show is a dance competition, organized a bit like "American Idol." Contestants have to work through an audition process, finalists are selected, and each week they perform. The contestants perform various dance styles in pairs, and initially, each week, the judges help decide which man-woman pair gets voted off.
While waiting for the show to start, Sammy's mom - who got them the tickets - started talking to a man sitting behind them. He turned out to be the father of Evan Kasprzak, the dancer who finished third.
Evan's dad said his son loved being on the show. He told how his other son, Ryan, had tried out, too. Ryan didn't make the top 20 for the show for either Season 5 or Season 6, which is airing currently, but is working with an off-Broadway show.
Sammy said the dancers did several routines from the show - such as a Bollywood routine, a Travis Wall (a former contestant himself) contemporary piece, and Philip Chbeeb and Jeanine Mason's hip-hop dance. (Jeanine was the Season 5 winner.)
At the end of the show, Evan's dad offered the three women "meet and greet" passes, allowing Sammy, her mom and her friend to go backstage after the show and meet the dancers.
The dancers looked very different in person from how they looked on TV, Sammy said. Kupono Aweau was "the most social, was really nice and didn't even wait for us to talk to him. He came up to us.... He was so tall!" Ade Obayomi was also very tall. Jeanine, the winner, was a lot shorter than Sammy expected.
Sammy said she wants to go to college to be a "little bit of both a dancer or a choreographer ... probably a dancer first and a choreographer second." She also plans to try out for the TV show as soon as she's old enough, when she's 18.
Santa's helper in town
In case you didn't know, one of Santa's helpers lives in Cornelius. In fact, Santa's helper Gene Ervin has scheduled some charity photo events for Santa this month. Ervin said it's a chance to "give back to our community" and give parents the "chance to get pictures and cards back in time for Christmas."
Santa and Ashley Barlow of TSS Photography will be available 5-7 p.m. Nov. 20 and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Mount Zion Church Craft Fair. All profits from photo sales will go to church youth groups.
Then Santa and his photographer will be at Cornelius Fire Station No. 1 from 2 to 6 p.m. Nov. 22, donating all profits to the fire department's Float the Boat Fund.
Santa will ride in the North Mecklenburg Holiday Parade Dec. 5 and afterward will visit with good children at the Cornelius Town Hall.
