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Microsoft’s Jane Broom practices her salsa routine with professional partner Marcelo Garces ahead of Saturday’s “Seattle Dances” competition. (Slager Fuj Creative Media Photo, courtesy of Plymouth Housing)
The amateur highlight of Jane Broom‘s dancing past came while growing up in Spokane, Wash., as a member of the 1984 Lewis and Clark High School drill team.
“We were good. We were really good,” Broom said of her high school days.
Forty-plus years later, Broom, the senior director of Microsoft Philanthropies, will show off her moves dancing the salsa on Saturday night. She’s part of “Seattle Dances,” an annual event put on by Plymouth Housing, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing permanent supportive housing for adults experiencing chronic homelessness in Washington state.
“It’s different,” Broom said of her new dance adventure. “The salsa is all about moving your hips and moving your shoulders. I don’t know if the drill team set me up well for salsa.”
A University of Washington graduate and 32-year Microsoft vet, Broom is among the nine celebrity dancers being paired with pros for the “Dancing With the Stars”-style charity event at Fremont Studios.
Now in its 16th year, Seattle Dances is a signature fundraiser for Plymouth, which has brought in nearly $13 million through previous events. GeekWire previously profiled the 2023 dancing exploits of former Tableau and Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky.
Broom is paired with dancer Marcelo Garces, who she’s been practicing with for two to four hours per week, and who she called “an excellent, patient teacher.”
In her day job, Broom is responsible for Microsoft’s philanthropic strategy in Washington. She oversees the company’s investments in affordable housing, human services, arts and culture, and more. Microsoft launched its commitment to affordable housing in 2019 and later, alongside Amazon and others, donated $5 million to Plymouth.
“Plymouth and the work they do to promote permanent, supportive housing, to me, is the solution for homelessness that we need,” Broom said. “It’s not the only part of the solution, but it is a huge part. You need a place that’s permanent for a person to call home, where they have the services and support they need to stay healthy and ultimately get back on their feet.”
Broom is not only competing for the chance to be the best dancer on Saturday. Fundraising honors are also at stake:
Top Promoter: Awarded to the dance team with the highest number of individual donors.
Housing First Hero: Awarded to the team that raises the most money.
Dynamite Dancer: Awarded to the Team with the most creative, passionate performance of the night.
Broom and Garces will perform their routine in a little under two minutes. She said it’s a little scary to put herself out there at an event like this, but she views the chance to put on a fancy dress and have her hair and makeup professionally done as a big positive.
“Microsoft and glam don’t necessarily go together all the time,” Broom laughed. “So I am kind of excited to get up on stage and stun my colleagues and others in the tech sector.”
Seattle Dances will livestream at 7 p.m. on Saturday on the Plymouth Housing website.
