It wasn’t graceful. It didn’t last long.
But 270-pound Eric Starr — with a baby blue tutu covering his tattooed calves, which he stuffed into shiny white go-go boots — awkwardly shuffled along the two busiest blocks in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood Sunday to raise a couple thousands dollars for the hungry.
"I guess it started with me putting my foot in my mouth, then paying for it," Starr said of reviving Prancercise, a short-lived and obscure exercise routine from the late 1980’s described by its inventors as "nearly dancing, but not quite."
About a month ago, with his Merriman Valley tattoo shop, Arkham, closed due to a pandemic and national protests weighing heavy on his social media feed, Starr posted a funny video on Facebook of Prancercise founder Joanna Rohrback frolicking without a care, clenching her butt muscles in a horse galloping motion, twisting her hips with her arms flapping about.
Jeannie Cargill, who works often with Starr to raise money for charity, replied to comic relief: "We need you to post a video of you Prancercising."
Challenge accepted, Starr answered. "Whoever wants to start a GoFundMe for the Akron [Canton Regional] Food Bank and it gets to $1,000 bucks, I’ll do it wearing heels and a tutu down Market Street," he said.
Cargill setup her online account to collect at least $1,000. So did Misty Pachta, who knew Starr from his days bartending at The Loft in Kent.
The two women had never met until they announced Sunday to a crowd of about 30 people that their combined fundraisers, along with attendees throwing $20 bills to get a photo with Starr, were nearing $3,000.
On the sidewalk between Chipotle and the Highland Square branch library with his wife and son and parents smiling nearby, Starr covered his scruffy face with a mask as social distancing in a Prancercise-parade might be difficult.
"You gotta show those boots, man," a woman yelled.
Starr lifted up his tutu and plopped a 4-inch platformed on a retaining wall for all to see.
"Alright. Let’s go!" he shouted.
In the middle of Pride Month and a fifth week of protests for criminal justice, Starr wiggled his waistline past the library, took the crosswalk a couple blocks away and headed back up Market Street. Cars horns sounded at his bohemian troupe, who followed with T-shirts and signs supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBTQ rights. Some said they were heading back to Hardesty Park Sunday night for another peaceful demonstration following their lap of exercise in Highland Square.
After the parade, Starr sipped water in the near-90 degree heat. His son, Nikolai, yanked off a go-go boot. Then Starr spoke with a note of exhaustion in his raspy voice.
"My goal is to do this every single year," he said. "As long as it’s inclusive to everyone, it doesn’t matter who’s marching with us."
"As long as it’s positive, keep walking," he said to a big round of applause. "All we gotta do is love and feed each other. And the rest will come along."
Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.
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June 29, 2020 at 04:45AM
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Scruffy tattoo artist prances to feed the hungry - Akron Beacon Journal
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