A dancing fool. That's not a term that has been attached to me very often in my life, but over the weekend, that was probably the most apt description.

After weeks of practice and preparation, the big night finally arrived on Saturday. The first annual Kansas City "Dancing with the Stars" competition. As we've been talking about on First News and I've written about here on this blog, both Donna Pitman and I were among the seven local "celebrities" who hit the dance floor with professional partners. As I've mentioned before, I had no idea what I was in for when I agreed to do this, and the gala event Saturday night only extended that.

Perhaps in the back of my mind I hoped we'd have a small crowd (although I wanted the Christo Rey school to raise a lot of money), but that was certainly not the case. It was standing room only at Starlight Theatre, with more than 400 people ready to watch my attempt at a Cha Cha dance routine.

All of the local stars involved in this were absolutely incredible. Mary Sanchez of the Kansas City Star danced a sensual Argentine Tango, restaurant owner Manny Lopez did a great job waving his cape in a Paso Doble, retired Chiefs star Bobby Bell thrilled the crowd while flipping his partner during their swing routine, and Crosby Kemper III was great dancing an American Tango, complete with a rose. I was completely impressed with each and every dance. But the winner of the evening after the audience vote was Jan Stephenson, former manager of the Raphael hotel. Jan's fun and flirtatious Fox Trot was deserving of the top honor. Congratulations to Jan and her partner, Kyle.

But I have to say, Donna and her partner, Louis Bar, really brought the house down with their "swing hustle." They danced to the classic 80's tune "Bad" by Michael Jackson, but they were anything but bad. It was both an incredibly technical routine and a crowd pleasing, fun one as well. Donna even pulled off a perfect moonwalk. Kudos to Donna and Louis: your hard work paid off and you were both fantastic.

By the way, if you want to see highlights of all of the routines, we've got video right here on thekansascitychannel.com. Just click on Entertainment.

Okay, so what about my routine. I did a Cha Cha with my partner, Laura Cantu. Many of you may have seen some of the video of my practice sessions with Laura, and let's just say, it was obvious I had no previous dance experience. But thanks to Laura's amazing talents, I think our routine was a success. The crowd liked it and so did the judges. And I really had fun doing it. This whole experience is something I will truly never forget.

Most importantly, the event was a big success for Christo Rey and all of the great kids who will now be able to get a wonderful education at the school. Now my call goes out to other Kansas City "stars": we need you next year! Nobody wants to see me convulsing around out there on the dance floor again, so we need some people who want to have fun for a great cause. Don't forget, you'll learn some wonderful dance moves as well. I can't wait for next year. I won't be dancing, but I plan to be there cheering everyone on.