Utopia Dance Team Is Crowned Grand National Pom Team Champion

After making an exciting run at Team USA finals last year, Utopia, St. Louis’ premier all-star pom and dance team, knew they would return to America’s Youth on Parade Nationals as one of the teams watch. With just a little bit of added pressure to repeat the “Monday Night Magic” from one year ago, Utopia trained harder and smarter this summer. The sweat and sacrifice proved to be worth it, for the girls walked away champions once again. 

America’s Youth on Parade (AYOP) hosted its 43rd annual national competition July 16-20. AYOP Nationals was once again held on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Aside from the home Notre Dame football games, AYOP is the largest event held at the university. Amidst the history and tradition of the Fighting Irish were more than 8,000 participants in solo, team, and pageant events, their coaches, families, and fans. 

The girls headed into this prestigious competition with a fresh program of eight entirely new routines. All Utopia performances placed top five in their respective divisions, with all four pom teams placing second or higher. Utopia’s minis, juveniles, and seniors all earned second place honors for their pom performances. In addition, Utopia was named Grand National Pom Team Champions in the junior division – the largest division of the entire pom/dance competition. 

Besides enjoying the pomp and circumstance that surrounds a top ten announcement and subsequent national title, Utopia is more pleased with the position they are in heading into year two of a three-year competition cycle. The girls must maintain high rankings in the oldest divisions in order to put themselves in good position for Team USA selection in 2014 and world competition in 2015. 

“Worlds is our Olympics,” stated long-time team member and younger level coach, Andrea Cassani. “For all of you that watched the athletes at the London games with USA pride and a bit of envy for their abilities, that could actually be us in 2015.” 

Utopia team members will return to the gym soon for another season of training and preparation. As the well-known proverb states, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” well, neither were world championship teams. Ironically, the next world championships will be held in 2015 in Lignano, Italy, near Venice and Rome. 

Girls ages 4 and up interested in being a part of Utopia are invited to join us for open auditions. This single-evening tryout will be held at on Wednesday, Sept. 5. The open audition will begin with an open house question and answer session from 5:30-6:00 p.m., followed by the closed audition from 6:00-8:00 p.m. For additional information, you can find our Utopia Dance Team page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @utopiadanceteam, or email Tiffany directly at tiffany@utopiadance.com.