Academy of the Holy Angels dancers fuse grace and grit to consistently power to the top of the Universal Dance Association High School National Championship. This year, the varsity dancers earned a silver medal in small varsity hip-hop, finishing second in a field of 37 of the nation\u2019s best teams. Varsity also earned a bronze for finishing third out of 57 teams in small varsity pom.
\n\u00a0
\nThe JV dancers brought home a silver medal in pom, and finished sixth in the nation in hip-hop.
\n\u00a0
\nHoly Angels\u2019 brand new middle school team finished sixth in hip-hop. The dancers also finished eighth in Game Day, a division that allows teams to showcase school traditions, school involvement, and community service.
\n\u00a0
\nAHA Head Dance Coach Jenny Sweet praised all of the Academy\u2019s competitors, who fared well despite having to limit practice time and forgo other competitions to minimize potential exposure to COVID-19.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIn true Angel fashion, we tackled all obstacles head on and together,\u201d Sweet said. \u201cThe dancers practiced virtually and in small groups leading up to the National Dance Team Championship. This year’s accolades are amazing and something to be so proud of. What is even more impressive is the resilience of the 2021-2022 team.\u201d \u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nShe added that both of the varsity team’s routines will be featured on ESPN in April.
\n\u00a0
\nSweet\u2019s varsity team includes Mackenzie Crimmins, Quinn Reicherz, Ava McAdams, Melina Hiza, Juliet Gelineau, Karis Cho, Noelle Wacker, Katie Fragola, Arwen Parmelee, Ella Cho, and Hannah Kim.
\n\u00a0
\nThe JV squad is coached by Alyssa Aponte. The team includes Samantha Zeccardi, Chloe Kwon, Kathleen Bing, Yeon Choe, Caroline Kartman, Caelyn Lindsay, Alexandra Nicholas, Maggie Yu, Maggie Danahy, Olivia Leys, Gianna Pasquale, Isabella McMahon, Jordyn Wynn, and Lydia Schmidhauser.
\n\u00a0
\nThis year\u2019s UDA event marked the national debut of the AHA Middle School Dance Team.
\n\u00a0
\n\u201cThese dancers didn’t disappoint against powerhouse programs who have been taking their middle school teams for over 20 years,\u201d Sweet noted.
\n\u00a0
\nKristen DePeri and Krystina Vafiadis coach the middle school team. Members include Isabella Rodriguez, Sophia Garzon, Cristyn Lindsay, Ava Cifelli, Emily Kho, Maddie Krol, Annabella de Leon, Lyla Dove, Cyia Sabathia, and Leyla Ziemba.
\n\u00a0
\nFounded by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1879, the Academy of the Holy Angels is the oldest private girls\u2019 school in Bergen County. While AHA is steeped in Catholic tradition, this prestigious school serves young women from a broad spectrum of cultural and religious backgrounds. The Academy\u2019s current leaders continue to further the SSND mission to provide each student with the tools she needs to reach the fullness of her potential\u2014spiritually, intellectually, socially, and physically, by offering a first-rate education in a nurturing environment where equal importance is placed on academic excellence, character development, moral integrity, and service to others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Academy of the Holy Angels dancers fuse grace and grit to consistently power to the top of the Universal Dance Association High School National Championship. This year, the varsity dancers … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,96,80,33],"tags":[184],"class_list":["post-2446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-school","category-dance-team","category-middle-school","category-upper-school","tag-nationals"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2449,"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446\/revisions\/2449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peapoddesigndemo.com\/holy-angels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}