Tri-State event brings money in for medical center

 

Mitzi Sinnott, haired pulled back in a ponytail to keep it out of her face, back turned away from her dance partner, Kipp Colvin counts out her steps.

“One, two three, four, five.”

Now she’s side by side with Colvin as they move to the geometry of slow jazz.

On Saturday the pair were working out the choreography for their performance at the upcoming Dancing with the Tri-State’s Stars on Oct. 26. This will be the fifth year for the local version of the national television show. As in the past, proceeds will go to the Ebenezer Medical Center in Huntington, W.Va., that provides free health care to the Fairfield West neighborhood and beyond.

“I was born in Huntington and that is my dad’s hometown,” said Sinnott, who grew up in Ironton. “Anywhere I can be helpful. Huntington has been very good to me in supporting my work with ‘Snapshot.’ (Sinnott’s one-woman show). For people who don’t work at a corporation and don’t have insurance, like myself as an individual artist, if I need to go there I can. Community is something I have always been a part of and I want to be helpful.”

Colvin, Sinnott’s dancing partner, is also an Ironton native and currently assistant vice president at Stevenson University, Stevenson, Md.

The event, to be at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, showcases the dancing prowess of the Tri-State.

“We have another great group of dancers,” Ashley Thompson, director of development for Ebenezer, said.

In the past participants focused mainly on ballroom dancing. This time there will be more variety to the genres with ballroom, hip hop, contemporary and country.

Dancers win according to the amount of applause they receive.

“They have to bring out their cheerleaders,” Thompson said.

Tickets are $25 or $15 for children under the age of 12 or Marshall University students with a valid ID.

“Ebenezer provides quality health care to those who do not have it and offers pharmaceutical needs and dental care,” Thompson said. “That is what is so awesome about this event. It goes to a wonderful cause and the greatest thing about this is we try to target the entire Tri-State.”

The event starts at 7 p.m.