On February 7, The Pascack Valley Regional Dance Team left to compete in the 2024 Dance Team Union (DTU) Nationals in Orlando, Florida, taking place from Feb. 9 to Feb. 11.

They competed in various events including the Large Varsity Team Performance, the Small Varsity Pom Group B Preliminaries, Medium Varsity Hip Hop Group B Preliminaries on Saturday, Feb. 10, and the Small Varsity Pom and Large Varsity Team performance finals as well as the performing in the Small Pom Battle, on Sunday, Feb. 11. 

They came home with second place in Small Varsity Pom and third in the Large Varsity Pom Performance trophies. 

In preparation for nationals, Coach Dena Noone and the team had practices three times a week over the summer which were less demanding than the practices in the fall. Starting in Sept., the team had three practices a week for an average of two hours and a one-hour dance class once a week. 

In Oct., the team received choreography for nationals from their choreographer, Remo Medrano. They would run through all of their dances in full and then choose a part to “clean up.” They also did workouts outside of practice which could either be team bonding events or on their own to build stamina. Starting in Dec., they shifted from two-hour practices to three-hour practices. In the first week of Jan., they started competing in competitions. 

At nationals, the team competed against 36 other teams in Small Varsity Pom and 13 teams for the Large Varsity Team Performance. Since they didn’t place in the Hip-Hop Preliminaries, the team decided to bypass the Hip-Hop Semi-finals so they could focus on their other dances. 

This strategy worked in their favor since they placed in the top three in two categories: Small Varsity Pom and Large Varsity Team Performance. They were selected out of those 36 small pom teams to compete against the selected medium and large pom teams for the pom battle, where Noone explained that “the judges pick the best teams from small, medium and large pom and they go against each other.” Though the large pom team, who had 25 girls on the floor ultimately beat the PV Regional Dance Team. 

Noone created the dance team during her senior year at PV and she has been the PVRDT coach since 1992. Noone reflects on some of the best moments throughout the years. While she was on the team she fondly remembers the fun times she had at nationals, as well as the time she has been head coach. In 1996, Noone’s fourth year coaching, the team went from 10th place in preliminaries to 3rd in the finals. Along with Noone, the team has another coach, Valentina DeSantis. 

Noone said they, “Have an amazing relationship and we work well together. I couldn’t coach without her.” 

“One of the best things about coaching this team for 31 years is all the fun memories with the different teams and each team has had different personalities,” Noone said. “I’m so lucky to have had the opportunity to coach at PV.” 

Abby Fox is a varsity dancer and senior at PV. She first started dancing at three years old. When she was in seventh grade, one of the alumni of the dance team had a workshop at the studio where she danced. In eighth grade, she became determined to get on to the team. Every day, she practiced the skills the team was looking for. She tried out and was selected to be part of the team her freshman year. 

Though she has a lot of fun memories with the dance team, her favorites were the car wash and nationals. Abby said, “The car wash is the kickoff event for the team where the team can get to know each other and they usually go out together afterward.”  

At nationals, her favorite moments were the team dinners. It releases the stress that everyone was feeling and helps them to as Abby said, “remember that these are still your best friends even if you are angry with each other.” 

Fox has already applied to colleges and plans to continue her dance career in some way or another. All of her top schools have dance teams. She has submitted video auditions to them, and her other choices for college have opportunities to be on a dance team, whether it is part of their NCAA division sports or intramural dance clubs.

As both Noone and Fox said, “Once you join the team, you are always part of a family.” Their motto this year, which is the one they are going to stick with for future years is “Never me, always we,” which directly correlates to this sentiment. 

“Though seven of the team’s members are graduating this year, they will always be a part of the Pascack Valley Regional Dance Team family,”  Noone said.

Congratulations to Dena Noone, Valentina DeSantis, and the whole dance team for winning 2nd and 3rd place at nationals!