Photo courtesy of Brian Jackson, Universal Event Photography.
The Mountain Brook High School Dorians perform at the Universal Dance Association National competition in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 3.
The longest four hours of the Dorians’ lives this spring weren’t spent dancing or practicing. They were waiting.
The Mountain Brook High School dance team is accustomed to long, intense hours of practices, getting ready to sparkle in a sea of green and gold at Spartan football games.
But on this February weekend, they were glowing in purple and black, having spent hours gluing more than 2,300 rhinestones to each uniform. It all came down to that trip to the Universal Dance Association’s National Dance Team Championship in Orlando, where they danced, kicked, twisted and flipped in front of Cinderella’s Castle to a remake of the Fugees’ “Ready or Not.”
They were ready.
The Dorians have a long history of top 10 finishes in the national championship, going all the way to fourth place in 2023. This year, they had already won second place in the semifinals the day before, and team captain Anna Prelipcean said the team was extremely emotional and proud.
“We had made Dorian history before even going into finals,” she said. “After the rush of excitement, we found ourselves more motivated than we had ever been once we realized that first place was in our reach.”
After their performance, the 24 young women gathered to wait with head coach Anna Scofield, a former Dorian who had coached the seniors back when they were seventh graders at Mountain Brook Junior High School, as well as faculty sponsor Caroline Carmichael and assistant coach Courtney Zajic. Former faculty sponsor Heather Fitch cheered them on from home, and everyone had the “heart of the Dorian dance moms,” Holli Simon, on their minds.
Then, the announcement finally came.
“When they got all the way down to second place and said Maine South, I knew we had won,” Scofield said. “The first thing I did was stand up and throw my hands over my head. All I could do was scream for joy and cry.”
For the first time in their 23-year history, the Dorians won first place in the 2024 National Championship’s “Large Varsity High Kick” division.
“It was absolutely surreal,” Prelipcean said. “In that moment, the countless hours of work we put in at long practices immediately became worth it, and all we could think about was how proud we were of what we had accomplished.”
“We were going nuts in the stands as we cried, hugged and cheered for these girls who own our heart,” Dorian mom Kari Kampakis said. “It was an adrenaline rush we’ll never forget and God’s goodness on display.”
Kampakis, whose daughter Marie Claire is a junior on the team, said the Dorians have a special camaraderie that shows in the way they dance.
“I believe that chemistry played a huge role in helping them make Mountain Brook history,” Kampakis said.
Prelipcean said the team had one word guiding them throughout their practices all year: consistency.
“Something that helped us this year as a team was focusing on progressing more and more each practice, without backtracking in any area,” she said. “Keeping the momentum going from each practice to the next helped keep us motivated and focused on improving the routine each day, no matter how minor the improvement.”
Fitch, who retired last year after being the faculty sponsor for 20 years, had taken the team to Nationals every year except 2001.
“The drive and determination it takes to get to this national championship was something that happened over many years, and many teams’ efforts,” Fitch said. “I think everyone that has ever been part of the program — dancers and families alike, and Dorian staff over the years — everyone feels a piece of responsibility, ownership and pride for this win.”
The Dorian moms brought along a photo of Simon, who passed away last year after a five-year battle with cancer. Simon’s younger daughter, Ann Everett, is a member of the team, and her older daughter, Sarah, is a former member.
“It was bittersweet to be at Nationals without her, especially since she loved the Dorians with a passion,” Kampakis said. “We felt her void as well as her presence, and I believe this team had a special grace over them that created the ‘magic’ we saw in their performance.”
The next day, the Dorians toured the Magic Kingdom in their new white jackets.
“The white jacket is huge in the dance world,” Scofield said. “It was a dream of mine since I was a kid.”
Scofield, whose sister Rachel was also a Dorian, said they all have a special connection. Recently, she was dropping her two-year-old daughter, Mae, off at preschool when a teacher, Carla Caffey Kent, saw her Dorian Homecoming poster in the backseat of her car.
“She said she was a Dorian back in the earlier years,” Scofield said. “We’re everywhere.”
One day, Mae might join the next generation of Dorians.
“She loves to come to practice and dance with the girls,” Scofield said. “Whatever she wants to do, I will love watching her succeed, but I do secretly hope to see her in sparkly and white boots.”
