“Dancing — spirited dancing, that is — is beneficial to the heart and one’s overall well being,” says local cardiologist, Doctor Asad Qamar. “A waltz or other slow dances, while they may not make good cardiovascular sense, certainly do make sense psychologically not only for yourself, but your partner also.” He smiles as he says, “Dancing is good for you.”

Dr. Qamar explains that is why when he was approached to be the Presenting Sponsor for this year’s event to benefit the YMCA he didn’t hesitate. “Everyone makes out here. The participants have a great evening, and the YMCA gets some well needed support to continue the great things they do for the people of our community.”

Ben Marciano, Executive Director of the YMCA, is grateful. “This is a wonderful thing they are doing for us. The proceeds will go a long way to help us continue to provide community oriented programs that help so many people. And it is a fun event, too!”

This is the second year for this event. It was originally conceived of by Dr. Justin Ferns as he watched the popular television program “Dancing With the Stars” and immediately tied it to good cardiovascular health.

“Look at Arthur Murrary, the great dancing instructor who lived to be 96,” he pointed out when he first presented the idea and developed the concept of Cardiowaltz and Dance your way to health. “Integrating a popular activity such as dancing into a scientifically based exercise program is what we aim to achieve. It is fun, and it is good heart health sense.”

Phyllis Marino, the event coordinator, doesn’t know about any scientifically based program, but she does know about how the event scheduled for July 31 at 7 p.m. at the Ocala Hilton is going to be a great overall evening.

“We are beginning with a wonderful sit-down dinner. There will be wine on the table and a cash bar, and we are really going all out,” she explains. “All the proceeds go to the YMCA and we are looking to make this into an annual event.”

Phyllis immediately points out how this year will be different from what they did last year in the respect the audience will be more than just an audience. “We are going to have the audience actually participate,” she says. “Last year six couples performed and competed. The audience just watched. It was a fun time, but it seemed like something was missing.”

She goes on to say, “This year our couples with the dance instructors will demonstrate a dance and then we will take people out of the audience to come up and actually try the dance. We are going to do several numbers with the same dance so as many people as possible can try out and actually learn any dance. We will do that with all of the dances, and then at the end we will have general dancing.”

Phyllis is confident it will go off without a hitch. “Dance instructor Joe Mounts will be coordinating the dancers. He is a marvelous person, and he is such a great dancer and teacher. I know it will be great!”

Don’t feel like dancing at all?

“That’s not a problem,” she says. “For $25 you can buy an arm band that indicates you have two left feet and will not dance under any circumstance. Get the arm band and you will be left alone to sit back and watch.”

She points out it is all in fun and not designed to embarrass anyone. “We want everyone to come and have a wonderful evening. And it is for a worthy cause, too.”

Dancing With the Doctors is open to the public. Individual tickets are $100 each, and a table for ten is $1,200. Title Sponsorships are also available for $5,000. All proceeds will go directly to the YMCA.  

For information regarding individual reservations or corporate sponsorships, please contact 352.812.0663 or go to http://you-niquelyyoursllc.com.