Eloise Ogden/MDN Jacob Colvard, right, of Minot Air Force Base, and McKenna Gagne, of Minot State University, strike a dance pose for this photo. Colvard is the only person from Minot AFB who will be in Dancing for Special Stars, a Special Olympics North Dakota event.

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE — Jacob Colvard loves to dance.

Originally from El Paso, Texas, Colvard began dancing at an early age.

“My mom really liked playing Neil Diamond a lot,” he said. She played Diamond’s music in the living room and he danced. “I was like 4 when I started,” he said.

He’s been dancing ever since.

On Tuesday evening, Colvard and dance partner McKenna Gagne, a Minot State University student, will be among a number of dancers taking part in Dancing for Special Stars, a fund-raising event for Special Olympics North Dakota. Colvard is the only dance participant from Minot Air Force Base. Gagne, a MSU physical education major, is from Glasgow, Montana.

The sixth annual event will be held at Ann Nicole Nelson Hall on the MSU campus. A reception and silent auction in the McFarland Gallery begins at 6:15 p.m., followed by the contest at 7 p.m. and a “Meet and Greet the Dancers” after the show.

Colvard is a senior airman/ staff sergeant selectee in the Air Force. At Minot AFB, he is a bioenvironmental engineering technician with the 5th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron. He has been at the Minot base for two and a half years.

He got involved in the Dancing for Special Stars event about a month ago. He said his supervisor Tech. Sgt. Anthony Paro’s wife wanted her husband to take part in the upcoming event. But Paro knew Colvard danced and asked if he would take part in the event.

“I’ve done ballroom before I joined (the Air Force) for about five years. I competed as well,” Colvard said. He said most of the competitions are held in San Antonio, Texas.

“I’ve done pretty well,” he added of the competitions. He’s also won first places.

“The way ballroom works is there’s different levels and then there’s different dances. I did like foxtrot, waltz, tango,” he said. He’s also done cha-cha.

“You can win in each of those dances,” he said.

Colvard started ballroom dancing at about age 12.

“My mom’s friend’s daughter needed a partner, and she stopped dance. I kept doing it. I really liked it. It’s really fun,” he said. He took classes at a dance studio in El Paso.

“I do freestyle, which is all the time,” he said, adding, “Whenever I walk my dog I just dance.” His dog is a Blue Heeler.

Colvard said he and Gagne will do the cha-cha for the competition. He said there’s two types of cha-cha — American and Latin.

“We’re doing Latin. I heavily prefer the Latin one,” he said. He said he prefers it because “there’s more focus on the technique in the hips.”

Colvard has done some training in modern dance and also in ballet for a couple years as well.

Colvard said he is looking forward to the Minot event. “I’m a little nervous. I’ve always had a little bit of stage fright but I kind of just push through it,” he said.

“It’s really important to practice with your partner because with ballroom a lot of it is communication. If one partner misses, it definitely can mess up the other partner as well. But we kind of lead each other through the dance,” he said. Their dance will be to “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man.

“It’s really fun to do cha-cha to that song,” Colvard said.

This will be the first time he’s performed for an event of this kind.

“I’m super excited. I love dancing. I really do,” Colvard said. “The way I see it, I have a lot of passion, and dancing allows me to let it out in a way that is enjoyable.” He said dancing is something he can do almost anytime.