Senior Jessie Shaw, junior Macie Goldfarb and freshman Danielle Gelin competed with their Dance Mania All-stars Senior Pom team at the Worlds dance competition Sunday and their team took home first along with the Nation’s ranking award.

“Basically what happened at World’s was all of Dance Mania’s Pom teams from minis to seniors performed at the same venue,” Gelin said. “We had to wait awhile for awards after we danced so we got to watch our competition which was kind of nerve-racking because our competition was really good.”

The girls got to watch teams from countries including Japan, Mongolia, Ecuador and Mexico among others.

“My favorite thing about Worlds is getting to go up against some of the best countries from all around the world, especially teams like Japan who have like a lot of technical ability and synchronization,’ Goldfarb said. “It’s really humbling to be able to compete against them.”

This was the team’s first time competing at this worlds competition.

“Honestly I think it may be my new favorite competition because it’s like the USASF Worlds that we go to in April but it’s a little more laidback, and it’s not as political as far as you know how they place you and stuff,” Goldfarb said. “They just go based off of your performance and your score sheets which is a really good thing. Also, they have really good food there in the venue.”

By Katie Perez