Dancing For Charity And, Now, For Pride

Competitiveness Flares For County's Notables

It was somewhere between the rapid-fire cha-chas and the cross-body spins that Jim Pebley's dancing feet had a meltdown.

Coming to a halt in the basement of his dance instructor's Falls Church home, his khakis rumpled and his black T-shirt wet with perspiration, the Arlington County planning commissioner and former Navy pilot signaled defeat.

"My poor little brain is fried," he moaned, sweat dripping down his temples. "My feet just won't do it."

Well, they better, and soon, if Pebley has any chance of winning the big dance contest tonight -- the one many favor him to win -- between county officials and other area notables.

The event is a takeoff of the popular television show "Dancing With the Stars" and is designed to help a local nonprofit group, the kind of quirky charity thing that people felt compelled to support. If they couldn't dance, they figured, at least it would be entertaining.

Then things got serious. Playful trash talk among contestants devolved into catty e-mails. Favorites to win were singled out, left-footers were privately derided and bets were taken on who might chicken out.

This was no longer a charitable contest between would-be dancers. No, civic activists and elected officials -- Arlington County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman (D) and Del. Albert C. Eisenberg (D-Arlington) among them -- realized they would soon face off under the disco ball for those ever-coveted bragging rights.

The game was on.

"This has turned out to be more of a fight than the elections," said civic activist and longtime County Board antagonist John Antonelli, who will don polyester, a wide '70s collar and an air of ballroom flamboyance to compete tonight at the black-tie-optional affair in Ballston. "There's no question who's favored to win," he said. "Me."

Pebley, the only contestant with ballroom cred -- he and his wife have taken lessons for the better part of six years -- said he's trying to manage expectations that he's the favorite.

"John Antonelli is the real ringer," Pebley said. "Rumor has it he's taking lessons from Michael Flatley to learn the great Irish 'Great Balls of Your Feet on Fire' dancing showcase."

Now, now boys.