After a very successful season of winning first place in jazz in all four of their regional competitions, the McLean Dance team traveled to Orlando on Thursday to perform at Nationals.

“Nationals is like a really big competition, there’s about 300 teams going. You have to put in a video and send it in in order to make it they have to approve you,” said sophomore Megan Hassi, a member of the dance team.

The McLean Dance team has been training for Nationals since last year, having practices after school and on snow days. They’ve also been competing in regional competitions throughout the school year to prepare for the huge competition.

“We started our routines over the summer and we’ve just been practicing them every week and having practices just to prepare for it. We have been going to regional competitions to prepare for the big competition,” said sophomore Mary Scalia, a member of the dance team.  

Scalia, along with other members of the team, hope to have a successful weekend in Orlando.

“There’s several rounds, so I’m hoping we can at least make it past the first round. That would be really great because we have worked super hard and just to get past the first round would be a huge achievement,” Scalia said.

Nationals will be the last competition the McLean Dance team will compete in this season, a great way to wrap up the 2018-2019 season.

“I’m excited because it’s our final team experience before the season ends, so I’m going to be spending it with all the seniors that I love that are leaving and I think it will be a really good way to end the season,” Scalia said.