Rehearsals for the 5th annual Dancing with the Tahoe Stars started this week.

The event is March 4 at 6:30pm at MontBleu.

Similar to the popular TV show, rookies will learn a choreographed dance routine complete with costumes. They will be paired with real dancers.

Local contestants and their partners are:

·      Betsy Belotti and Rainer Herm

·      Marimille Dacia and Gerzon Chaves

·      Alison Ganong and Bob Truesdale

·      Brooke Hernandez and Alex Kaskie

·      Cindy Martinez and Rex Kline

·      Jeff Cowen and Rhonda Keen

·      John Freidrich and Jodi Patton

·      Matt Levitt and Robyn Lindner

·      Chuck Malone and Angela Smith

·      Austin Sass and Catherine Arens.

Judges will be Marcia Sarosik, Don Bosson and Paul Middlebrook. The audience will have the opportunity to vote by text for their favorite couple. The people’s choice award is a separate prize based on the couple that raises the most money for Tahoe Arts Project by collecting donations. Online voting for People’s Choice can be done anytime through TAP’s website.

Tickets range from $10 to $50 and will go on sale Feb. 4.