Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs mayors dust off their dancing shoes

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Cha-cha and triple swing. Samba and Viennese waltz.

Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs officials are setting aside their duties in favor of dancing heels and sequins, all in the name of high school fundraising.

Westlake High School's first Dancing Up a Storm competition pits Eagle Mountain Mayor Heather Jackson against Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love in a two-night extravaganza that began Friday and concludes tonight, sponsored by the school's ballroom dance team. Members of the police departments, fire departments and Westlake's own student body also are competing, paired with members of the ballroom team.

"I met my husband country dancing," Jackson said. "That's about the extent of my dancing."

Jackson participated in her last class when she was 4 years old, but Love's last ballet class was 12 years ago.

"You will see the difference," Jackson said. "But it's all right. It's for the kids. Because it's a city competition between both the mayors, the firefighters and the police, I feel confident that the other two will help out my team tremendously."

Jackson's fellow Eagle Mountain representatives are Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Jason Randall and the fire department's Juan Delgado. Randall will compete against Saratoga Springs Police Sgt. Kerry Cook, and Delgado will face Patrick Cullen.

"I know that Juan is doing very, very well," Randall said. "I figure he's the ringer in our bunch."

All participants are dressing in ballroom costumes for their 90-second dances. A three-person panel and the audience are judging participants on their ability, choreography and style. The audience will select an overall winner, winners for each head-to-head competition and a winning city.

"Our goal is to beat Saratoga Springs," Randall said. "I was told by Mayor Jackson that we have no choice."

Westlake High opened last year and serves both the Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain communities.

"Being a first-year school with a brand new ballroom dance program, we have started with pretty much nothing in the way of costumes and materials," said Christian Bastian, director of Westlake's ballroom dance company. "Our administration has been very supportive of us. … But we need more to be able to compete favorably with the other more established ballroom dance teams."

There are 60 students participating in Westlake's ballroom teams, many of whom never competed before BYU's November DanceSport competition.

Tickets are $5 per person or $25 per family. The competition starts at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Westlake High, 99 N. 200 West.

e-mail: eteichert@desnews.com