Perfect Score

Less than a week before Dancing With Our Steele County Stars, Cory Michaelson dislocated his knee at work. However, Cory and his wife, Angela, were able to overcome that obstacle and take home the title. 
The fifth annual event, held April 25 at the Medford High School Auditorium, raised money for Healthy Seniors of Steele County, a nonprofit organization that aims to provide services to seniors who need caregivers and empower them to live independently in their homes as long as possible. 
The Michaelsons, of Owatonna, had been asked multiple times to do the competition. 
“We ultimately knew that we were going to end up doing it one year, and this was the year that it worked with our schedule,” Angela said. 
Neither Angela nor Cory has any formal dancing experience. The Michaelsons tried to practice every day, even if that meant running through the routine a couple of times or practicing 45 minutes straight. 
The two performed a quick step to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” and got a perfect score of 30 (10 points from each judge), wowed the audience and raised the most funds of any couple. Cory estimates that before the event they had raised about $7,900, shattering the record of $4,000. 
Cory said he enjoyed “the friendship and camaraderie” they formed with the other couples, and Angela stated, “It is not just learning the routines, it is meeting new friends and raising money for a good cause.” 
The main challenge was Cory’s injury. The Michaelsons had to adapt their routine. 
“It was a setback. The last week you want to be putting the finishing touches on it and polishing your routine, but we couldn’t. It was hard because we should have been fine-tuning, but we couldn’t dance, so it was hard knowing that everyone else was polishing up their stuff,” Angela said. 
Cory added, “We had to try to figure out how to alter the dance after having memorized it and knowing it inside and out. All of a sudden we had to put in some changes to adapt it, and that was a challenge.” 
After speaking with the doctor, Cory decided to do the best he could with the injury. 
“I decided, Let’s see what we can do over the course of five days and do the best we can. I didn’t just want to all of a sudden leave a hole in the routine. After all of that hard work, I wanted the opportunity to follow through with it,” he said. “We had a lot of support from people and a lot of people coming to watch, and I didn’t want to have that letdown.” 
The main challenge for Angela was trying to find a dress. She searched for weeks to find a dress that not only fit the era of the song, but fit her correctly due to her height. 
Both of the Michaelsons kept their nerves in check and had fun performing. 
“I was ready with all the preparation that we had and felt really comfortable walking out on the stage,” Angela said. Cory added, “It was fun to be at that spot where all of a sudden you get to kind of showcase all of your hard work. For me I was kind of bummed out because I knew I could do a lot of more stuff better, but it was fun to go out there and give it our all.” 
The two were surprised that they took home two awards, as that was never the goal. 
“For us it was just, Let’s just go do the best we can and whatever the results are, those are the results,” Cory stated about finishing first.
The Michaelsons are happy they participated in the competition and recommend it to other couples. 
Paul and Glenda Smith took home the other two awards: Audience Choice and Judges’ Award. Originally, the Judges’ Award was a four-way tie among the couples that received perfect scores, including the Michaelsons, the Smiths, Beth and Brett Svenby and Jessica and Clint Williams. The judges broke the tie by giving it to the Smiths.