MITBDT at Nationals
By Noelle Sun
Seven MIT couples attended USA Dance Nationals on March 30 and April 1 in Baltimore, MD.
Friday morning the team was headed off to a great start with Hila Hashemi and Tiago Souza placing 2nd in Bronze Latin and 1st in Silver Latin. Way to go Hila and Tiago!
The Smooth contingency of the team also pulled a great performance, showing the nation that MITBDT is rapidly becoming much stronger in this style. Theresa Vallese and Matt Sorrentino placed 5th in Gold Smooth and were top of the Novice semi-final; Herman Versteeg and Alice Wang placed 1st in Gold and 5th in Novice Smooth.
Representing the finest of our team’s open Smooth, Lihua Bai and Jeff McCollum finished at the top of the Pre-champ Smooth semi-final.
Four couples competed in the standard events. Doubling up in two styles, Theresa Vallese and Matt Sorrentino made quarterfinals in Novice Standard. Xiaojuan Khoo and Alex Arazawa ended their season together on a high note, placing 5th in Novice Standard and making quarterfinals in Pre-champ Standard. Mandi Davis and Ryan Taliaferro placed near the top of the Pre-champ quarterfinal, and Ben Moss and Noelle Sun danced in the quarterfinals of Championship Standard.