sports
TOM JONES
Detroit’s Dancers
Are Stars
LIVE
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
D
edication paid off for Detroit
dancers at the JCC Maccabi
Games & ArtsFest in Miami.
The 11 dancers won 20 medals in
17 dances in early August in the cool
comfort of the Herbert and Nicole
Wertheim Performing Arts Center at
Florida International University.
“We practiced for several months,”
said Detroit dance coach Linda Taylor.
“We were there every Sunday for a
couple hours in the dance studio at
the Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield. That helped us come
together as a team.”
Practice isn’t a foreign concept to
this group of teenagers.
“They all compete through a dance
studio. They have competitive dance
in their background,” Taylor said.
All 11 Detroit dancers won Maccabi
gold for their Israeli and open group
numbers.
After earning bronze and silver
in Israeli dance the last two years,
Detroit made it to the top this year.
“[Dancer] Sloan Lemberg is a big
reason for that,” Taylor said. “She
reworked our routine, made it more
fluid and entertaining.”
Lemberg also was a member of
Detroit’s bronze- and silver-medal
winning Israeli dance teams in 2015
and 2016.
Detroit’s Mandi Fealk, Haley
Whelan, Emma Goldschmidt, Chloe
Schram and Nicole Spizizen earned
gold medals for solo routines,
Lemberg, Rachel Weiss and Alex
Mison won silver medals and Alana
Appel won a bronze medal.
Two small groups — one with Fealk,
Spizizen, Weiss, Schram and Ava
Mison and the other with Lemberg,
Appel, Whelan, Alex Mison and Mari
Lynn — each won a gold.
Duos of Alex Mison and Whelan
and Appel and Lynn also were gold-
medal winners.
Dancers can win medals for their
choreography.
In the 15-16 age group, Detroit won
bronze and silver for the Lemberg,
Appel, Whelan, Alex Mison and Lynn
small group and Lemberg’s solo.
In the 13-14 age group, Detroit won
silver and gold for Schram’s solo and
the Fealk, Spizizen, Weiss, Schram and
Ava Mison small group.
Detroit’s dancers, along with the
other athletes and artists in Miami,
participated in the JCC Cares commu-
Detroit’s 11 dancers won 20 medals at the JCC
Maccabi Games & ArtsFest in Miami.
nity service project, helping the Sole
Hope organization transform donated
blue jeans into shoes for children in
Uganda.
“It was the most impressive and
moving community service project
I’ve seen in the five years I’ve been
involved in the Maccabi Games as a
parent and coach,” Taylor said.
Her daughter Melanie Taylor, a
Detroit dancer for four years, was the
dance team’s assistant coach this year.
POOL HAUL
Detroit swimmers Michael Umanskiy
and Kylie Pazner also returned from
Miami with medals.
Umanskiy won 10 medals: four
gold, two silver and four bronze.
Two golds came in individual med-
ley relays and the others were in the
400 freestyle relay and 200 backstroke.
He won silver medals in the 500
freestyle and 200 breaststroke and
bronze medals in the 200 freestyle
relay, 100 breaststroke, 400 IM and 200
freestyle.
Pazner won gold medals in the 500
freestyle and 200 freestyle relay, silver
medals in the 200 backstroke and 400
medley relay and a bronze medal in
the 400 freestyle relay.
OTHER MACCABI RESULTS
Detroit’s Jenna Silverman won a gold
medal in 16U girls tennis in Miami.
Madison Narens of Detroit had to
leave the competition in the semifi-
nals because of an injury.
Benjie Stern of Detroit was a mem-
ber of the Austin (Texas) 14U boys
soccer team that finished 1-4.
Detroit had one volleyball player.
Nia Kepes was on a team with players
from Bensonhurst (N.Y.) and Miami.
“We had two wins, two losses and
one tie and we finished in fifth place,”
Kepes said. “I didn’t mind not winning
a medal, though, because all that mat-
ters is we had fun.” •
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August 31 • 2017
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