This past Sunday, Gables’ very own National Champion dance team, the Gablettes and Company, competed at their annual state competition. The event was hosted by the American Dance Alliance under Rosanna Karpiak, a past coach of the Gablettes for 18 years. States began early Sunday morning, however, the Gablettes first took the FIU stage in the afternoon with their Junior Varsity Contemporary routine.
New member, freshman Riley Flores, who had never competed in front of such a large audience before said, “More excited than nervous going into the competition, but the nerves struck when I saw the judges watching us from their bird’s eye view.”

Regardless of the anxiety, the dancers placed 1st in this category. Later, 9 Gablettes took the floor to perform Varsity Contemporary and placed 6th.

At this point in the day, everyone began feeling weary, but junior Nina Llado, who was unable to dance due to her wrist injury, felt as though it was her duty to cheer her team on and motivate them to keep striving for success. “No one sees the hard work they put into these routines, and watching them dance their hearts out for each other made me so proud to be their number one supporter,” Llado said.

Proceeding was the only Junior Varsity Kick entry of the day to “Grease Lightning”. Seven Gablettes performed out of 9 due to injuries, but the small group still mesmerized the audience with their chic costumes, animated performance and intricate choreography (courtesy of Coach Mo Marmesh). No one could help but feel like they were taking a two minute trip to 1950s America. Raising the bar even higher, Varsity Kick showcased their dance about an hour later. Their Legally Blonde theme enthralled both the judges and crowd with their immaculate kicks and technique. However, their dazzling costumes were definitely something to talk about too. Halfway through the routine, part of the raiment was removed in order to truly commit to the theme. As a result, the group won the Style Award for innovative costuming. In addition to all the awards won so far, the team was also prized Best in Class for kick.

After being there for nearly 7 hours, the Gablettes’ last number took place around 8 pm. Varsity Team Performance, composed of 12 devoted girls, is in fact, the category that was won at the National and International level in the previous 2012-2013 season . So for this dance, the girls were especially hungry for a victory. This is indubitably a competitive category that requires a great deal of stamina and endurance to get through. The girls gave it their all and ranked second for this category.

With that, the competition day came to a close. After watching a long day of dance, supportive coach Mo Marmesh realized how dance is really thriving in South Florida. Hundreds of schools attended the competition and Marmesh said, “[I am proud to] see the Gablettes competing and holding themselves against dance magnets, charter schools, private schools and teams comprised solely of studio trained dancers.”

Both Marmesh and Captain Alexis Mendez feel that the squad is on the right track to their supreme goal that awaits them at NDA, Nationals in Orlando. “It gives me goosebumps to think how far the routines have come and how much further we’re going to be at the end of the next 5 weeks,” said Mendez.

Until then, the team aspires to only move forward and excel at their next competition (FDTDA) on February 22nd.