I found this article while browsing my hometown newspaper. I thought it was interesting that someone from Oklahoma City went to Tulsa and won! Vicki is the wife of Greg Banta of Midtown fame.


Thursday, January 8, 2009
Owasso, Oklahoma

Banta and Fernandez named Dancing with the Stars champions
Published:
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 2:31 PM CST



Owasso High School alumnus, Vicki Ford Banta, and her Ballroom dance partner, Darren Fernandez, were declared the Dancing With The Stars Local Dance Challenge Champion on Friday, Jan. 2.

A qualifying event was Dec. 18, 2008 at Strictly Ballroom, 6926 S. Lewis in Tulsa.

Ten semi-finalists were selected to be part of the Local Dance Challenge competition during the “Dancing With the Stars” performance at BOK Center.

The 10 semi-finalists performed and were judged by Serena, a professional dancer from the show’s cast. Banta and Fernandez were selected as one of the two finalist couples who performed the Cha-Cha in front of a sold-out audience. The audience voted by text messaging and selected Banta and Fernandez the “Samsung Eternity Dancing With The Stars Local Dance Challenge Champion.” They received a trophy and a Samsung Eternity Touch-Screen phone as their prizes.

Vicki and her husband, Greg Banta, began ballroom lessons in 2006 and Greg encouraged Vicki to begin dancing in competitive events. She won the titles “Top Female Student” and “Newcomer of the Year” at the first event.

Since that time, she and her dance partner have competed in Oklahoma, Nashville, San Francisco, Houston and Atlanta, where they have been successful in winning.

Banta is involved in an inner-city ballroom organization, called “LifeChange Ballroom,” founded by Cindy Pipkin to bring ballroom into the public schools to teach kids to dance, but more importantly to teach them respect, manners, social skills and life skills. It is a wonderful program for assisting high risk students in particular to be successful and feel confident about their futures, Banta said.

Vicki resides in Piedmont, Okla., with her husband, Greg. Fernandez is an independent instructor/choreograher and works in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Oklahoma City where he is the dance director at Dance Magic Studio.