Dancing Stars of St. Johns County Get Tickets Tickets
A dancer dipped deep over her partner’s arm under the stage lights at Dancing Stars of St. Johns County.

Dancing Stars of St. Johns County

One night of ballroom dancing. A year of free lessons.

Local celebrities you already know spend ten weeks training with Arthur Murray professionals, then compete on the Lewis Auditorium stage. Your ticket, your vote and your sponsorship are what keep the lessons free 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) nonprofit 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 it works

A local celebrity, a professional dancer, and ten weeks.

You know the television version. This one is the same idea with people from here. Each local celebrity is matched with a professional from Arthur Murray Dance Centers of St. Augustine and Jacksonville, owned by Vasiliy and Marina Vlasov. Then the clock starts.

A local celebrity in a turquoise fringe dress finishing a routine with her Arthur Murray partner on the Lewis Auditorium stage.
01

Paired up

A local celebrity from St. Johns County is matched with a professional dancer from Arthur Murray. No dance background required, and most arrive with none at all.

02

Ten weeks

Every pair rehearses together and raises money for SACSPA right up to show night. The fundraising counts as much as the footwork.

03

Judges and audience decide

A panel scores the routines live. The audience picks a winner of its own, and that is the one you can swing.

A dancer in a red gown arched back under the stage lights during the professional showcase that closes the night.

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 local celebrity herself in 2023 and won People’s Choice that year.

Two ways to win

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

Judge’s Choice

Decided on the night, by the panel.

Judges score each local celebrity on the routine they have spent ten weeks learning. It is the only award the audience cannot influence.

People’s Choice

Decided by the county, in donations.

A vote for a dancer is a donation to SACSPA. Backing your favorite and paying for the lessons are the same act. That is the point of the whole evening.

Where the money goes

Programs that have not missed a year.

Arts programs are the first line item cut when budgets tighten. SACSPA has not cut these. Every one is free to the children in need and the elders who attend, and the longest-running started more than fifteen years ago.

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 local celebrity perched on the judges’ table, playing to the panel mid-routine.
  • Guests filling the lobby during pre-show activities and the silent auction.
  • A local celebrity 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. Every one of them pays for lessons.

Come to the show

Seats at Lewis Auditorium for the competition, the silent auction and the professional showcase. Tickets for 2027 go on sale once the date is set.

Get tickets

Dance in the show

Compete next year. You bring the nerve. Arthur Murray brings ten weeks of choreography and 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.

The date comes later. Dancers sign up and sponsors commit long before it, so if you want to be part of the 2027 show, now is when it counts.

Dance in the 2027 Show Sponsor the 2027 Show