Fairfield Ludlowe High School Dance Team Wins Trophy At Nationals

The following recap of the Fairfield Ludlowe High School Dance Team successful performance at the recent Universal Dance Association's National Dance Team Championship is by parent Erin French:

FAIRFIELD, CT — In just their second year as a team, the Falcons brought home a trophy from the Universal Dance Association's National Dance Team Championship, placing 9th in the nation for their "Conga" Jazz performance in the Varsity Intermediate division. The event was held at ESPN Wide World of Sports at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This year's event hosted 365 teams across 33 states. In its 40th year, the championship will air on ESPN2 and ESPNU this spring.

The FLHS team is led by Coach Tracie Alley, whose own daughter is on the Fairfield Warde Dance Team, who also competed at UDA. The Falcons' co-captains are Ashley McCabe and Lauren French, both juniors who helped resurrect a new dance team at Ludlowe after a five-year hiatus.

The team was also interviewed on-site to talk about their unique inspirational figure, none other than Jimmy Fallon. Before their first live performance last year, Coach Alley told the team not to worry if they made a mistake because, "it's not like you're going to end up on Jimmy Fallon." In the interview with Ellie Breaux on Saturday, Feb. 4, Alley said, "But then we added another piece: let's be great enough to get on Jimmy Fallon."

Ludlowe's Dance Team will next compete at the CAS (Connecticut Association of Schools) Warde Dance Jam on Feb. 11 and the CAS CIAC (Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference) State Championship on Feb. 25 in Hamden.