A Super Start to the New Year

The new year has started off in an encouraging fashion for the boys and girls of Marco Island Dance Academy’s (MIDA) competition teams. 

2024 has seen them deliver impressive showings at two large dance tournaments. In mid-January, they were named Star Dance Alliance Regional Champions at the Starpower International Battle on the Seas Dance competition. MIDA closed out the month at the Shake the Ground dance tourney, where its team in the “Petite” category (age eight and under) placed 10th, as did Bella Salomon, in that category’s solo dance segment.

Formed in late 2021, MIDA offers instruction for children ages one and above in ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, cheer dance, lyrical, contemporary, aerial arts, and “acro” (acrobatic) tumbling. There are also Mommy-and-Me classes for children six months to three-years old, which feature activities designed to develop motor, cognitive and social skills and spatial concepts.

This is just the academy’s second year competing against other dance schools. Highlights of 2023 included its petite team taking first at the Magic City Dance World’s 2023 national championship, held in Miami. The petite squad next took part in the Star Dance Alliance World Dance Championship. Held in New Jersey, the girls were finalists in a field that included dancers from 198 studios, including some from Ukraine, China, Canada, and six additional countries. 

MIDA studio director Kristin Croscenco couldn’t be more pleased with the youths’ progress. 

“It's such a joy to watch because I look at the dancers that were on the competition team last year and seeing how well that they finished the end of the year, and then seeing them in their very first competition this year, and they're already so much better. The improvement just from one year to the next is really incredible. So, I'm really excited to see where they end up come May, June, July, and at the end of the season. They've grown so much. I'm very proud of them, and I think the parents are all very proud.”

Held during a four-day cruise from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas on Royal Caribbean’s “Allure of the Seas,” the Starpower International Battle on the Seas competition involved 400 dancers from 51 dance schools from across America. 

Battle of the Seas marked the first completion appearance for MIDA’s all-boys team, consisting of Kaden Croscenco, Gianluca Salomon, and Jacab Ungashick, who finished third in the junior’s category (ages nine to 11) with a hip-hop routine entitled “Thrift Shop.” 

In its first ever competition, MIDA’s “mini” category team (ages five to six) won first place, as well as earning the first-place overall championship. The team consisted of Talulah Gentile, Charleston Stull, and Brielle Hudspeth.

Other academy Starpower International Battle on the Seas Dance competition highlights include: 

* The junior category (ages nine to 11) teams sweeping first place and being named the Star Dance Alliance Regional Dance champions for their routine “Haus of Holbein,” performed by Kora Croscenco, Delaney Simon, Isabella Shaughnessy, Monroe Gentile, Savannah Stull, Vivienne Tierney, and Bella Salomon. Their second routine, entitled “Fought and Lost,” placed fourth overall and first in their category.

* The junior team, consisting of Roselyn Burke, Delaney Dolan, Ellie Fowers, Aurora Holmes, Olivia Yasa, Marisa Munera and Gianluca Salomon was named SDA Regional Champions for the hip hop routine, “Danger Zone.” They won $300 and an invitation to next year’s International Dance Battle on the Seas competition. Their second routine, entitled “Believer” placed second place.

* The petite and junior teams also received Golden Tickets, enabling them to be in the World Dance Championship, to be held this July in New Jersey.

* The mini team, consisting of team members Talulah Gentile, Charleston Stull, and Brielle Hudspeth, won first place in their category in their first-ever competition.

* First-place finishes for the solo dance routines of Kora Croscenco, Aurora Holmes, Roselyn Burke, Marisa Munera, Veronica Fernandes, and Bella Salomon. Isabella Shaughnessy placed fourth, Collette Combs placed ninth, and Delaney Simon tenth in the Intermediate Solo category for 15-to-17-year-olds. 

* Kora Croscenco received the “Sparkling Smile” award and Bella Salomon received a $1,000 scholarship for the Discovery Talent and Modeling convention in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

South Fort Myers High School was the site for Shake the Ground, which Croscenco said was one of the largest competitions MIDA will attend this year. Dance schools from Tampa to Miami took part.

“We were up against more than 100 different soloists and groups in each category, so it was a little bit more competitive than the cruise competition,” she explained. 

MIDA will next take part in the Magic City Competition, which is set for February 24 through 25 at Naples High School.

Marco Island Dance Academy is located at 1089 N. Collier Boulevard, #422. For more information, please visit MarcoIslandDanceAcademy.com or call 399-0551.