Elvis Presley Fan Club will host “Dancing with the King” this weekend

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – An event combining ballroom dancing with music from Elvis Presley takes place this weekend in Tupelo. “Dancing with the King” features local celebrities, learning a ballroom dance routine with a dance pro. WCBI’s Allie Martin is taking part in the event and has this rockin’ report.

Since August, once or sometimes twice a week, Sara Wood, a pro dance instructor at the Dance Studio of Tupelo, taught me a single swing routine.

For “Dancing with the King” celebrity dancers pick an Elvis song, for a ballroom dance routine. I chose “Dixie Land Rock” from the movie “King Creole.”

Wood said each song and dance routine has its unique set of challenges.

“One of the challenges was the speed of it and finding things that kind of fit the music, it’s an upbeat song and you have to match that with the movements,” said Wood.

“Dancing with the King” is presented by the Elvis Presley Fan Club of Tupelo. It combines Elvis’s songs with ballroom dance routines. The event also features pro and pro-am competitions. Proceeds go to scholarships for young dancers. The event also helps provide ballroom dance classes for students at Plantersville Middle School.

“It supports a great cause, putting dance in our schools, it spreads an art that a lot of kids may never see without it. Everything has gone really well this year, I’m super excited with how everyone’s doing, routine is coming very well and we’re down to the nit-picky stuff,” said Wood.

“Dancing with the King” has been celebrating the life and music of Elvis Presley for years and introducing a younger generation to ballroom dancing and the music that will never go out of style.

The celebrity dance competition is Friday night. For more information go to dancingwiththeking.com

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