People, Places and Things: 4-1-15

St. Mary’s Dance Team Champions 2015The St. Mary’s Dance Team, under the direction of advisers Beverly Richards Buckley and Jade Alexa Cipolla, received numerous awards at the StepUp2 Dance Regional Competition in Melrose last month and qualified for the Dance National Competition July 8-12 in Manchester, N.H.More than 600 dancers from all over New England, representing 27 schools, competed for a chance to qualify at the national level.Dancers are Molly Alock, Juliet Anctil, Caroline Ball, Julia Belliveau and Tuyetlien Nguyen of Lynn; Stephanie Aucello of Saugus; Jennifer Harlow-Powell of Salem; Alyssa McGrath and Ashley McGrath, sisters, of Revere; Erin Powers ’20 of Peabody, and Marissa Waite ’20 of Nahant.The team competed in both the tap and jazz groups. The Spartan dancers took a High Gold first-place award for their tap performance “American Bandstand” and Gold first-place award for their zazz performance “Dance.”Sixth-grader Ashley McGrath excelled, becoming the 2015 “Overall High Score” Solo Champion with her Platinum first-place tap routine. Her older sister, sophomore Alyssa McGrath, was also awarded a Platinum first-place award for her lyrical group performance. To top off the weekend, eighth-grader Stephanie Aucello not only danced with her fellow teammates, but she also sang her way to a High Gold first-place award for her rendition of “Skyfall.”The Spartan champions perform these and other dance routines tonight at the St. Mary’s Dancer’s Showcase at 6:30 p.m. in the Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium in Lynn.