Philly Girls Take Four Maccabi Jazz Medals

On day three of the Maccabi dance competition at Riely Theater, the audience was jazzed. So were the competitors.

"We did great," exclaimed Haverford Middle School student Nicole Haftell, moments before she and the rest of Team Philadelphia's entry in the Jazz Small Group Age 13-14 division were awarded a silver medal for their interpretation of Ed Drewett's "Champagne Lemonade."

They may be too young to drink the stuff, but it was a sweet performance nonetheless. The four-dancer ensemble came out in matching black pants and cut-off white t-shirts and left the stage to raucous cheers from the home audience.

"I was really nervous at first, but then I saw how many of my friends were out there and I pulled it together," said Haftell, who admitted that before Monday's performance she was too anxious to eat breakfast.

The rest of the Team Philadelphia dancers, if they suffered any nerves, hid them as well as Haftell.

Sophie Ritt won a bronze medal in the 13-14 year-old solo division for a self-choreographed dance she did to Christina Aguilera's "Candyman," Sydney Richards took silver in the same division for her performance to Pussycat Dolls' "Right Now," and its 15-16 year-olds took gold in their Small Group competition on the strength of an exuberant routine to the tune of Spice Girls' "Spice Up Your Life."

Rounding out the rest of Wednesday's gold medalists were Houston's Simone Trevas, who performed to Mariah Carey's "Obsessed" to win the age 13-14 division; Ariel Brown, also from Houston, who danced to Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" for the age 15-16 crown; Detroit's age 13-14 Duo/Trio team, who won with "New, New"; and Houston's girls, who took the age 15-16 Duo/Trio with "Express."