Star: Amy Ponder
Amy Ponder was born and raised in beautiful Medford, Oregon. She attended Oregon State University and continued to live in Corvallis for 14 years. Her handsome husband and their small family returned to Southern Oregon to be closer to family in 2018. Amy danced ballet for 10 years many many decades ago (does that even count now?) and is ready for the DWTRVS adventure. Her husband did DWTRVS in 2019 and absolutely loved his experience- he still has his gold sequin jacket!
Amy is the Assistant Principal at Roosevelt Elementary School (Go Roughriders!). She absolutely loves her job and is thankful every day to work for such a great school! Roosevelt Elementary is working hard to support Charly as their Sparrow this year. The students at Roosevelt love working together to support Sparrow Clubs. It is truly amazing to watch young students grow in compassion for others at such an early age.
Partner: Kenny Pariseau
Kenny started ballroom at an early age of 6, under the wing of his grandfather's dance instruction business. Kenny officially started teaching as needed at 12 years old.
Becoming experienced in all forms of ballroom dancing, Kenny continued his teaching career locally until his grandfather's retirement. At 24 years old, he decided to move to Reno Nevada to push for higher standards in dancing. Being hired as a dance Instructor for Never Enough Ballroom, owned by two gold level DVIDA instructors, his career took a new direction. Kenny was taught how to put together choreography, teach to DVIDA's standards and trained in advanced styling techniques. After 3 years of this, Kenny decided it was time to come home to the Rogue Valley.
Starting a new family, Kenny took a 7 year break. Seeing that his oldest child is the same age as when he started, Kenny is now back to teaching and continuing another Pariseau generation for ballroom dancing.