Dancing Stars of St. Johns County Get Tickets Tickets
A community dancer in a blue fringe dress lifted by her Arthur Murray partner on the Lewis Auditorium stage at Dancing Stars of St. Johns County.

Dancing Stars of St. Johns County

One night on this stage keeps the lessons free all year.

Neighbors you already know train with Arthur Murray professionals and compete at Flagler College’s Lewis Auditorium. The whole night funds free performing arts instruction for St. Johns County children in need and for our elders.

Get Tickets See the Star Lineup
  • Next show
    2027 date announced soon
  • Venue
    Lewis Auditorium, Flagler College
  • Pre-show
    5:00 p.m. · auction & students
  • Doors
    6:00 p.m.
“To find and nurture the spirit of creativity and talent that rests within everyone.” The mission of St. Augustine Community School of Performing Arts, the 501(c)(3) this night exists to fund.
St. Augustine Community School of Performing Arts seal

Founded in 2006 by Annette Danielson
St. Augustine, Florida

2006
SACSPA founded, after its founder’s own recovery from a traumatic brain injury.
2014
First Dancing Stars, launched with Arthur Murray Dance Centers.
38
Local businesses and in-kind partners behind the 2026 show.
$0
What a lesson costs the children and elders SACSPA serves.

How the night works

A neighbor and a professional, paired for one routine.

Dancing Stars is modeled on the television format, but the people on this stage are from here. Each community dancer is matched with a professional from Arthur Murray Dance Centers of St. Augustine and Jacksonville, owned by Vasiliy & Marina Vlasov. They rehearse for months. Then the county decides.

01

A neighbor says yes

Local leaders volunteer to compete. No dance background is required, and most arrive with none at all.

02

A professional takes over

Arthur Murray champions choreograph and coach every pair through months of rehearsal before show night.

03

The county decides

A judging panel scores the routines live. The audience and the community vote separately, and every vote is a donation.

A community dancer in a red fringe dress finishing a routine with her professional partner under stage lights.

The doors open at six and the room is already full.

Pre-show starts at 5:00 p.m. in the lobby with a silent auction and performances by SACSPA students. Auditorium doors open at 6:00 p.m. After the competition, Arthur Murray championship dancers close the night with a professional showcase.

Returning emcees Andy Morgan and Christie Morgan host. Christie competed as a community dancer herself in 2023 and won People’s Choice that year.

Two ways to win

One trophy is judged. The other is bought, one vote at a time.

Judge’s Choice

Decided on the night, by the panel.

Judges score each community dancer on the routine they have spent months learning. It is the only award the audience cannot influence.

People’s Choice

Decided by the county, in donations.

Votes for a dancer are donations to SACSPA. Backing your favorite and funding the programs are the same act, which is the point of the whole evening.

Where the money goes

Programs that have not missed a year.

SACSPA provides performing arts instruction to local children in need and to the elderly, free of charge. The longest-running programs started more than fifteen years ago and are still running now.

2009 – present
Coquina Crossing Chorale
A weekly chorale for residents of the Coquina Crossing community, running continuously for over fifteen years.
2014 – present
St. Augustine Youth Services
Performing arts instruction for children living at SAYS, a residential therapeutic group home in St. Augustine.
2020 – present
Weekly performance group
Started when in-person classes stopped and kept going since, so that no student lost their place in the program.

The 2026 show

Lewis Auditorium, July 11, 2026.

  • The full 2026 cast performing the opening ensemble number in front of a large flag backdrop.
  • A community dancer perched on the judges’ table, playing to the panel mid-routine.
  • Guests filling the lobby during pre-show activities and the silent auction.
  • A community dancer and her professional partner mid-routine in front of the flag backdrop.
  • Two dancers applauding the audience on stage at the close of a routine.

Photography by John B. Merriam.

Take part

Four ways in. They all land in the same place.

Come to the show

Seats at Lewis Auditorium for the competition, the silent auction and the professional showcase.

Get tickets

Be a community dancer

Compete next year. You bring the nerve. Arthur Murray brings the choreography and the coaching.

Sign up to dance

Sponsor the night

Put your business in front of a full auditorium of neighbors, and fund the programs directly.

See sponsorships

Volunteer

Show night runs on people in the lobby, at the auction tables and backstage. Hours are flexible.

Volunteer

2026 sponsors

Twenty-eight local businesses and ten in-kind partners.

Dancing Stars is paid for before the first ticket is sold. These are the businesses and families who did that for the 2026 show.

The 2027 date is coming. The lessons have not stopped.

Dancer sign-ups open before the date is announced, and the night is funded by sponsors months ahead of it. Both start now.

Be a Community Dancer Sponsor the 2027 Show