Dancers Bring Home Gold at Atlantic City Nationals

The Terpsichore Dance Company of Mariann’s School of Dance had their most successful performance ever at the Starbound National Dance Competition this summer. Thirty three company dancers attended the National Finals in Atlantic City from July 11 through 15, where they received Elite Gold, High Gold and Gold awards for their solo, duet and group dances.   

Senior company dancers Heather Fibkins and Whitney Della Torre placed third highest overall for their duet “Don’t Forget”.  Kylie Levine placed fifth highest overall for her senior solo, and Kalene Marulis and Whitney Della Torre placed eighth and sixth respectively in the super senior solo category.

The judges gave out special awards to Ileana Periera for Lovely Expression and Movement and Halley Gradus and Natalie Alessio were recognized with a judge’s award for their Focus and Emotional Connection.

The Junior Company placed fifth and sixth overall out of 96 dances in the junior group dance category. The Teen Company placed third, sixth and eighth overall out of 53 dances, and the Senior Company placed first, second, seventh and ninth overall out of 108 senior group dances.

The highlight of the week was the Showcase of Stars, a competition between the top ten dances in each age division.

Junior dances “Telephone” choreographed by River Edge resident Lauren Della Torre and “Dream a Little Dream” choreographed by Dana Ingram placed fourth and third respectively.

The Teen dance “Funhouse”, choreographed by Elisabetta Spuria, placed fifth and “Tightrope”, choreographed by Paramus resident Meagan Fibkins, was the Teen Grand National Champion with a first place win.

The Senior Company placed fourth with “Unravel” by Lauren Della Torre and they were also the Senior Grand National Champions with a first place win for “Hold On Me” by Al Blackstone.

The Terpsichore Dance Company has qualified to be part of the Showcase of Stars for six years. They have been Grand Champions for 2006 and 2007, and have placed in the top five for all other years. This was the first year for the Junior and Teen companies at Nationals, and the fourth year for the Seniors.

The company dancers train for eight to twelve hours per week at located at 599 Valley Health Plaza in Paramus.  For more information call the studio at 201-261-1207, visit or like them on Facebook to get the latest details.