PENDLETON — Allyson Gordon loves to dance, which would help explain why — on top of being a full-time teacher, taking classes to earn administrator credentials and being a mom to two young girls — she decided to compete in an upcoming area dance competition.

“I thought it would be fun,” said Gordon, a Pendleton Heights High School English teacher who will be on stage Saturday at The Paramount Theatre Centre and Ballroom in Anderson during the venue’s 12th annual “Dancing Like the Stars” benefit.

“It’s just a way for me to acknowledge my background and represent Pendleton in this sort of larger, countywide event.”

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Gordon, 34, is the only person from Pendleton listed among 11 so-called “local celebrities” competing in the couples division; six are from Anderson, with two from Frankton and one each from Elwood and Yorktown. In the team division, three businesses and the Rotary Club will compete.

Like her fellow celebrities, Gordon is paired with a professional dancer who helps in areas such as music selection, choreography and execution, to make the presentation as polished as possible.

The couples will perform for an audience at the Jan. 25 fundraiser, which supports the continued restoration and operation of the theater.

Gordon has danced competitively before, as part of the Purdue University Dance Team from 2003-06.

She also did the choreography for the musical at Seeger Jr.-Sr. High School in West Lebanon, where she taught for a year, and coached cheerleading at Western High School in Russiaville, where she taught before moving to Pendleton four years ago.

But with her program, which is largely ballroom dancing in form, there’s been a learning curve.

“It’s been a little challenging because I don’t have a lot of background in ballroom,” Gordon said.

She said the hardest part is following her partner and figuring out where their feet are going to go.

Her dance partner, Xavier Medina, 31, is an artistic director, choreographer and dancer who has studied international ballroom dancing for 13 years. He said the difficulty of Gordon’s routine might be partly a result of his faith in Gordon’s abilities.

This is Medina’s sixth year helping with The Paramount event, and he said he has a habit of pushing the limits.

“This year, because Allyson has a background in dance, it was a little easier, but also a challenge,” he said.

The pair will perform to 2-minute mash-up of songs, with “Burnin’ Up” by Jessie J as the dominant track.

“It’s pretty intense because it’s not just ballroom — it’s also a little bit of hip-hop,” Medina said.

“I’d say, as long as I don’t fall on my (recently injured) knee, I’m pretty sure we’ll have a good time” — and win, or at least give the judges a tough time picking a winner, he said.

There will be two winners in both the couples and team divisions: Judges Choice trophies will be presented to the couple and team that perform the best executed routine technically, and People’s Choice trophies will be awarded to the couple and team that raise the most money through voting, which is ongoing at the event website.

From its inaugural year through 2019, the event raised almost $625,000.

Gordon, who said she’s has a lot of support from faculty and students at Pendleton Heights, where she teaches AP English Language and Composition and English 9, also said she’s gunning to win the competition.

If she doesn’t win, she said at least she’s supporting the theater, a venue she’d been to only one time before getting involved with the competition, during her eldest daughter’s dance recital.

If not for that recital, “I never would have known it was there, and I probably never would have Googled what was going at The Paramount.”

“It’s a beautiful space,” she said.

People can learn more about Dancing Like the Stars and its competitors, buy tickets and vote for their favorite pair and team at dltsanderson.org.

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12th annual Dancing Like the Stars

• 7 p.m. Jan. 25, at The Paramount Theatre Centre and Ballroom, 1124 Meridian St., Anderson

• Tickets cost $24, $34 and $41

VIP After Party

• 10 p.m. to midnight in the Paramount Hardacre Ballroom

• Party tickets cost cost $15

Tickets can be purchased at dltsanderson.org or by calling 765-642-1234.

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