WJR's Kiss Come Dancing Spectacular
KEY FACTS
An audience of 420 people came to offer their support, and a remarkable £160,000 was raised by WJR’s Kiss for a Child Committee
Six volunteer participants endured an arduous training schedule for four months
On Saturday 19th January, World Jewish Relief hosted its annual Kiss Come Dancing Championship at the Decorium, Wood Green. An audience of 420 people came to offer their support, and a remarkable £160,000 was raised for WJR’s Kiss for a Child Committee, which supports children’s projects across Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.
Six volunteer participants endured an arduous training schedule for four months before taking to the dance floor with their professional dance partners on Saturday night. Following the judge’s scores, audience votes and dance off between the two pairs of finalists, the judges announced their unanimous decision to name Michelle Mendoza the winner of KISS Come Dancing 2008.
Sassy interior designer Michelle lives in Hendon with her husband and two young children. An active supporter of many worthwhile charitable causes, Michelle has attended the KISS event for the last three years and as her 40th birthday loomed, she decided it was time for a new challenge. Although a keen dancer as a child, Michelle hasn’t danced properly in years – but on Saturday she impressed the audience with her version of the cha cha cha to ‘You Should be Dancing’ from Saturday Night Fever. For the last four months, Michelle has risen as early as 5am to meet her professional dance partner Matthew Hearn – who has 28 years experience and has reached 8th ranking in the world at his peak.
Michelle commented:
“It has been a wonderful experience from start to finish, and although some of the training was demanding, it was well worth the hard work. I feel privileged to have been part of such a unique charity project – WJR offer exciting but achievable ways to actively support important causes; I already cant wait to see who takes part next year!”
Competing with Michelle were Londoners Elane Isaacs, Phillip Silver, Wolf Rabstein, Michael Kraftman and Victoria Dennis who did their families proud overcoming nerves and wowing the audience.
The Kiss for a Child committee is headed by Jewish Princess Georgie Tarn. Georgie commented:
“The Kiss For a Child committee is absolutely delighted with the success of this year’s KISS event – once again we have surpassed expectations. The projects we support literally offer a lifeline to thousands of children, and we are truly grateful to the dancers, the professional partners and everyone who has supported us . It takes a lot of courage to step onto the dance floor in front of a huge audience plus family and friends. Of course the show goes on and I hope that more volunteers will step forward to don their own pair of dancing shoes!”
Paul Anticoni, Chief Executive of World Jewish Relief said:
“I want to thank Georgie and her dedicated committee for their astounding work and amazing commitment to WJR. Their contribution has had a huge and overwhelmingly positive affect on thousands of Jewish families throughout Eastern Europe over the last seven years, and I have every confidence that next year’s event will be another huge success!”
