This past weekend, the Pascack Valley Regional Dance Team (PVRDT) participated in the Dance Team Union Nationals and came in first place in the Varsity Team Performance and third place in the Large Varsity Pom. The competition took place in Kissimmee, Florida and over 100 teams participated. The team won $6500 for their performance.

“It felt so good to win [the Varsity Team Performance], because of the amount of time time, effort, and hard work that we put into this season,” Pascack Valley senior, Sam Cohn, said. “Especially this season, I feel like we worked harder than we ever have before.”

PVRDT scored a competition-best 91.46 in the Team Performance, and a 90.06 in the Varsity Pom, finishing behind Olathe North High School in Olathe, Kan. and The Westside Girls from Lee’s Summit West High School in Lee’s Summit, Mo.. This is PVRDT’s second consecutive win in the Varsity Team Performance category.

“We have worked so hard, not only just this year, but over the four years we’ve given so much of our time to this team, and it’s our lives,” Pascack Valley senior, Jillian Eberson, said. “To end it on such a high note as a senior is also a great thing.”

Eberson and Cohn said that the competition in Florida this year exceeded what PVRDT had faced in previous years, making their performance more rewarding. About six weeks prior to the competition, they both felt that the team began to gel and work together in a way they never had previously, which led to their first and third place finishes.

“The competition this year was definitely some of the fiercest that it’s been in our four years on the team. [There were] very very tough teams in both divisions,” Eberson said. “In terms of us, I think that [our chemistry] didn’t start like this at the beginning of the season in June. But in the past month and a half or so, there was this click and this fire underneath all of us.”

With just six returning dancers out of 15 team members, the seniors took the role of helping the team prepare for the national competition.  

“[The younger dancers] didn’t really know what to expect [at the national competition],” Cohn said. “And I feel like it was our role as seniors and returning members to prepare them as much as we could.”

The dancers credit their coaches, Dena Noone and Valentina DeSantis, for PVRDT’s success throughout the year, and especially in Florida at DTU Nationals.

“They do so much,” Eberson said. “I’m really grateful to them for nurturing me, taking care of me for four years. And especially this year for leading us to [first place in Varsity Team Performance].”