By SUMMER KELLEY First published in the March 19 edition.

Local family watches daughter, grandson dance on national TV

(LEFT) - Rebecca and Jesse Lewis strut their stuff on "Your Mama Don't Dance."

Edward Wilkie is very proud of his daughter and grandson, as is his wife Jo. The mother/son duo is competing against nine other mother/son and father/daughter groups on “Your Momma Don’t Dance”, one of Lifetime Television’s newest shows.

Rebecca Lewis and her son Jesse are in Los Angeles working their way toward $100,000 in cash and prizes. Jesse first began auditioning for a dance competition show called “Dance Nation”. Rebecca said Jesse was calling her and telling her that the judges liked his dancing in October. In November, Rebecca received a phone call from “Dance Nation” which was really going to air as “Your Mama Don’t Dance” asking her if she would be a dance partner with her son.

Rebecca said at her first response was, “Are you kidding?”

The first interview for the show was taped at Rebecca’s home and she was asked to show her moves, which according to Rebecca don’t exist. All of Rebecca’s auditioning was done without the knowledge of her son.

Jesse was picked along with four other male dancers and five female dancers who were surprised February 29, when the show first premiered, with the news that their dance partners for the competition were going to be their mothers and fathers. Rebecca grew up and went to school in Trenton. She graduated from Dade County High School and describes herself as being very quiet and shy.

After high school, Rebecca married and moved to Birmingham, Ala., where she had four children, of which Jesse is the youngest. Rebecca is a two-time cancer survivor and said that it was during one of her battles with the disease that Jesse left high school.

“I had two in college, one overseas, I was fighting cancer and just couldn’t spend the time with him,” Rebecca said.

While Rebecca wishes that Jesse would return to school, she said that dancing is something you have to do when you are young, it is what Jesse wants to do and he is good at it. The 21–year–old Jesse left home for Los Angeles two years ago to pursue a career in dancing.

“(Jesse) says he can always go back to school, but he can’t go back to dancing,” Rebecca said.

The dancers and their parents have been in Los Angeles for a month, now, and Rebecca said it is hard to believe that she has been away from her job as a Charge Nurse for this long. When she first asked for time off, Rebecca was not allowed to tell her bosses why she needed to take leave. Not only that, but Rebecca said that she had only been working at the hospital since June and the administration was afraid she was going to do some travel nursing which was not allowed by her contract. Eventually Rebecca was able to tell them, and she was told by her boss that her job would be waiting for her when she got back.

For the dance show, the dance pairs spend three hours a day rehearsing and the rest of their day is spent doing interviews, taping, and reality taping. For the most part the groups are sequestered, but Rebecca said that they go shopping and on other outings, but there are always people with them for security reasons. One day, Rebecca tripped at the mall and hurt her back. She said the day before taping she was in so much pain that they had to take her to a chiropractor where she received treatment which even included acupuncture.

Each week the pairs dance before judges who put the two lowest scorers up for voting until the next Friday and the pair with the lowest number of votes leaves the show. Rebecca and Jesse were in the bottom two the first week of dancing, but were saved by the number of votes they received.

Rebecca said the hardest thing has been learning the dance steps, especially since they had two and a half weeks to learn the first dance and now they have only four or five days. At 51 years of age with arthritis in both knees and a memory that she says is not so good, Rebecca said repetition is what helps her the most.

“It’s a little embarrassing seeing yourself on T.V.” Rebecca said. “I still see myself as young, but on T.V. I look so old to me.”

Jo Wilkie said that the family is having a blast with the competition. This past week they were asking everyone they knew to vote, since 10 votes can be done for each phone. Rebecca said her daughter-in-law who is a teacher asked her students to all vote for Mama Lewis and Jesse. Being able to continue the competition is a good feeling Rebecca said, but it is really sad to see the others leave since everyone has bonded during the experience.

“Your Mama Don’t Dance” can be seen on Lifetime Television Network each Friday night at 9 p.m. until the final round on April 18. It features host Ian Ziering who has been on several television shows including “Beverly Hills, 90210” and competed in season four of “Dancing With Stars”. The three celebrity judges are Cris Judd, Ben Vereen and Vitamin C. “I never thought I would do anything like this ever.” Rebecca said. “If we get in the bottom two again, please vote for us.”

To vote or learn more about the show go to www.mylifetime.com.