Crazy for Swayze? Crazy enough to spend $75 to see him?
Tonight, from 6:30-10 p.m., Patrick Swayze of Dirty Dancing and Ghost fame heads the Philadelphia's Dance Affiliates' 20th anniversary celebration at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
Joined by Mayor John Street and Philadelphia radio personality Jerry Blavat, Swayze agreed to join in the celebration because Dance Affiliates'Founder and Artistic Director "Randy Swartz actually got him his first job," said Diana Ferraiolo of Buzz Communications, the event's PR firm.
The event is being held as a fundraiser to raise money to help support Dance Affiliates educational programs and outreach activities, including workshops, classes, symposiums, residences and special student programming for over 25,000 children and aspiring actors.
Different levels of donors are invited to various aspects of the evening.
Patrons who are spending $500 and sponsors who are paying $250 a head are invited to a cocktail reception and buffet hosted by Blavat. This is followed by a retrospective of Swayze's career, a sneak peak at his latest film One Last Dance -- which will debut at the Philadelphia film festival on Tuesday -- and a performance by Philadelphia's Koresh Dance Company, in which guests who have paid $125 are invited to join.
Student tickets for $75 come into the picture for the last portion of the evening -- a champagne reception and the Dirty Dancing party.
While students responded positively to the idea of Swayze visiting campus tonight, most of them were unaware that the event was taking place.
"I'm surprised because I really like him, but I haven't seen publicity," College junior Melanie Mund said. "I wonder what he looks like now?"
"I would definitely be interested in checking that out to see his dancing," first-year Engineering graduate student Mark Naus said. "But if he was just acting, he's not the first actor I'd run to see -- I have work to do."
Some students responded that they were not interested in going because it didn't really interest them, and others were appalled by the price.
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