Eric Kriete

Eric's dance repertoire is vast and impressive (wink, wink).

"I'm really good at the chicken dance, the robot, the shopping cart and the lawnmower … all the classics," he says. "And every now and then, much later at night, I can pull off the Carlton."

If you know Eric, that burst of humor won't surprise you one bit. But in all seriousness, he says, he's quite nervous about stepping onto the ballroom floor and dancing. In fact, he originally declined the invitation.

"I am scared out of my mind," says the gregarious owner of Sheboygan's popular Silver Fern Pub. "My anxiety is off the charts. I wonder every single day why I said yes to this. I guess I decided to push myself into doing something I'd normally not be comfortable enough to do."

At 6-5, Eric, a Lakeland grad, looks more like a basketball player than the scratch golfer he is.

"Uh, no," he says when asked if he plays hoops. "I look like a giraffe running up and down the court. It is not pretty."

Whether his dance moves resemble a clumsy giraffe or a graceful gazelle, Eric will be relieved when his time under the bright lights is over.

"If I pull this off, even though it wasn't on my bucket list, I'm going to immediately throw it on my bucket list – so I can take it off," he says with a smile.

Eric chose to dance for the Salvation Army after an eye-opening conversation with St. John's United Church of Christ Pastor Gregory Whelton, who told him about how many homeless people struggle daily in Sheboygan County.

ERIC IS SPONSORED BY THE SILVER FERN AND HAS CHOSEN THE SALVATION ARMY AS THE RECIPIENT OF 50 PERCENT OF THE PROCEEDS RAISED THROUGH THE PURCHASE OF EXTRA VOTES ON HIS BEHALF.

HE WILL PERFORM A MEDLEY ROUTINE WITH HIS DANCE PARTNER, NADINE ROCHELLE.