M'Lanie Hunter Dance takes top score, will reach for the stars at national competition

CHESTER — M'Lanie Hunter Dance of Chester and Greenwood Lake brought home the ultimate win of The Excalibur Trophy on June 2 at DanceXplosion in Sparta, NJ.

The competition team "Boy Crazy" received a Special Judges Award for Entertainment, earned the highest score of the day, and brought home the highest trophy the ultimate win of the Excalibur Award, giving them a paid spot at Nationals in July at the Wildwood Convention Center. Choreographer and owner M'Lanie Hunter won a Special Judges Award for choreography for the piece, receiving a plaque and Extreme Choreographer jacket.

The Boy Crazy team included Debra Pietranico of Chester; Deirdre Dunkin, Lizzy Jablonowski and Kayla Naughton of Greenwood Lake; and Nicole Quinones and Jacquelyne Ambrosio of Washingtonville.

The weekend before at Beyond The Stars, also in Sparta, six-year-old Kaylin Garcia of Chester won first place in her category and age division.

Kaylin received a special judges award of Pint Sized Perfection. The judges were thoroughly impressed by "the large vocabulary of ballet steps she executed in her performance."

Kaylin's solo "Sugar Plum" was choreographed by the school's ballet mistress and assistant director, Dara Jenel.

"This year we opened our competition team up to younger age groups," Hunter said. "I hesitated to do this at first as we have all seen the reality show 'Dance Moms,' which is far from the reality at our studio — except for the winning part! Our competition students achieved the highest score in their divisions at both of their competitions and several dances are going to Nationals. This was all accomplished with hard work, commitment and the love of our awesome dance mamas."

M'Lanie Hunter Dance is entering its 10th year. The studios are located at 67 Brookside Ave. in Chester and 729 Jersey Ave. in Greenwood Lake.