Dancing with the Staff finale full of laughter and dancing - By Jessilyn Austen

On Thursday night, Windham High School Project Graduation's Dancing with the Staff returned to the stage for the grand finale and what a finale it was. The night was kicked off with fifth grade teacher Andrea Lavigne and fourth grade teacher Adam Beal dancing to One Directions' “Beautiful”. For their efforts, they received perfect 10s across the board from the judges, Jennifer Breton, Christopher Howell and Kim McBride. Second grade teacher, Aileen Pelletier and her husband, former high school wrestling coach, Kurt, brought wedding memories to the stage with their mix of wedding songs including: “Grease Lightning”, “Cotton Eye Joe”, “YMCA” and many more. They “spanned the eras,” said Breton after the Pelletier’s performance.

Dancers Windham Police Officer Rob Hunt and ELL teacher Darcie McDuffie did a major change up from their last hula performance with an elegant ballroom number. They also received perfect 10s from the judges. When asked by the judges what it would be like if they won the People's Choice Award, Officer Hunt said, "It's just a dream of mine to be number one in people's hearts. I'm number one in my mom's heart and she is out their stuffing the ballot box with votes.”

As the night wore on, the audience got to enjoy five more amazing dances including the hit, “Because I'm Happy”, performed by Debbie Hall and Tom Nash dressed as Minions from the movie, “Despicable Me”. Two other classics songs were also performed to. “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” was danced by Tianna Burton and Beth Bubier, and “Walk Like An Egyptian”, danced by Anne Blake and Eddie Milsop.
As the ballots were counted, the audience was treated to several performances by different groups from local dance studios.

Each and every dancer was fabulous, but at the end of the evening, only one team could win. First, the People's Choice Award was announced and Hunt got his wish as he and his partner McDuffie received the People's Choice Award and raised over $450 for WHS Project Graduation 2014. Next, it was time for the audience’s top three winners, which were announced in no particular order. Thursday night's top three were: Debbie Hall and Tom Nash with “Because I'm Happy”, Shelley Cook and Jason Lanoie with the Spice Girls' hit “If You Wanna Be My Lover” and Adam Beal and Andrea Lavigne with “Beautiful”. However, only one team could go home with the trophy and this year's winning team was that of Beal and Lavigne.

Beal and Lavigne may have been the "dancing stars" of the evening, taking home the winning trophy, but the true winners overall were the WHS Project Graduation seniors. WHS Project Graduation 2014 would like to thank the dancing staff members, choreographers from several local dance studios, volunteers, judges and hosts that put in countless hours to make Dancing with the Staff a huge success, not to mention very entertaining.