by Dennis Dalman
Two Sartell High School graduates, Alexa Anderson and Maggie Fandel, who are former Sabre dancers and now members of the University of Minnesota’s dance team, shared dazzling victories recently when their team won big awards.
The event took place in Orlando, Fla.
Videos of the two performances show audience members jumping to their feet and cheering with sweet delirium at the College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship competition.
The 24-member U of M team performed to the Aerosmith song “Dream On” and later to a rousing pom-pom cheerleading tune. There have been a whopping two million views on TikTok of their performance of “Dream On.”
The two dances were jaw-dropping, a feat of visual perfection as the dancers performed sidesteps, leaps, ground rolls, mid-air splits and spinning round-and-round in a dizzying whirl on one foot, all in perfect synchronicity.
The team took first place in the “Pom” category and second place for the “Dream On” performance. There were about 30 teams competing in Orlando.
Along with family and other well-wishers at the competition was Sartell Sabre Dance Team head coach Kelly McCarney, who coached Fandel and Anderson when they were Sartell Sabre dancers. The two women, who are the best of friends, still return to Sartell to help coach the Sabre Dance Team.
Anderson, 19, is the daughter of Holly and J.D. Anderson of Sartell. Fandel, 20, is the daughter of Kelly and Neil Fandel, also of Sartell. Both young women graduated in 2022.
As Sabre dancers, they helped carry the team to three high-kick state titles and one for best jazz-dance performance – dancing to Elton John’s song “Bennie and the Jets.” The performance drew an ecstatic, joyously frenzied response from the audience, and that dance is still one of the two women’s favorites.
Anderson and Fandel have known each other since they were in first grade and (no surprise here) they both grew up with a passion for dancing. Now U of M sophomores, they are both studying biology, society and the environment, with Fandel on a pre-med track and Anderson planning to become either a physician’s assistant or a physical therapist.
After their Orlando performance, both women were exhausted, naturally, but they were also very happy.
“I was super prideful for our school and really happy that all that hard work paid off,” Anderson told the Newsleaders during an interview. “It’s so inspiring to see so many people take an interest in dancing. The Orlando event was even on ‘The Today Show.’’
“It was so special to be on stage with so many athletes and individuals,” said Fandel during the same interview. “After the awards ceremony we got together with everyone who came to support us – parents, siblings, grandparents, alumni and other super fans.”
The two women will keep dancing with the U of M team for two more years, until they graduate. And even as their careers advance in new directions, they both said it’s very possible they will likely keep coaching and teaching dancers wherever they happen to be.
Maggie Fandel (left) and Alexa Anderson (right) show their medals after their team won first place in the D1A pom National Championship at UDA College Nationals.
The U of M dance-team winners are “all smiles” after their two wins in Orlando, Fla.
Maggie Fandel (left) and Alexa Anderson (right) with the Sartell Sabre Dance Team head coach, Kelly McCarney, who came to support two of her best former dancers.
