Former Coal Queen’s dance troop competing on ‘America’s Got Talent’
The dance troop from Greene County native Tammy Croftcheck Tallarico’s Studio 19 Dance Complex is currently competing on the NBC summer reality show “America’s Got Talent.” The girls performed before the show’s judges and were selected to advance to the next level of competition to be held in Las Vegas in July.
Tammy Croftcheck Tallarico
CARMICHAELS – In 1985, Greene County native Tammy Croftcheck became Bituminous Coal Queen as the Carmichaels Area School District representative in the annual competition.
This summer, the dance troop from Croftcheck’s Studio 19 Dance Complex is competing on the NBC summer reality show “America’s Got Talent.”
Croftcheck, who is now Tammy Croftcheck Tallarico, said a talent scout from the show saw the dance troop in a dance competition and called in February asking them to come to Chicago to perform in front of the producer and then the executive producer of the show.
In April, the girls and their parents were flown by the show to New York City to compete in the show’s eighth season. Their portion of the competition aired June 25 in Week 4 on the local NBC affiliate. “The girls performed before a live audience of two thousand people,” Croftcheck said, “and they received a standing ovation!”
After the dance troop performed, Judge Mel B, former Spice Girl “Scary Spice,” said to the girls, “You have every single quality and more to have your own show in Vegas.” Critiquing the dance troop, judge Howie Mandel said, “It is athletic and interesting; it is original.” The dance troop also received affirmative votes from judges Heidi Klum and Howard Stern, sending them on to the next round of competition to be held in Las Vegas. “We have not yet filmed the show in Las Vegas,” Croftcheck said. She believes it may be filmed sometime in late July.
Unfortunately, the show that aired on Tuesday did not show the dance troop’s entire dance routine; it did, however, show a small clip of it and the girls, ages 10 to 18, in their enthusiastic response to the decision they were continuing on to the next level of competition.
Croftcheck said the dance troop has been featured in every commercial advertising the show and their picture is on the “America’s Got Talent” website.
Studio 19 Dance Complex is an award-winning dance studio managed by Croftcheck and her partner Katie Watts and is located in Cranberry Township. The studio has been ranked number one in the state, number one in the North East Region, and in the top three studios in the United States and Canada by the Federation of Dance.