Two Glenmore Park dancers have made their debut on the world stage, placing in the top 10 on this year’s season of ‘America’s Got Talent’ with Sydney dance school Brent Street.
Abby White and Terina Edwards, both 19, first met in primary school, having lived in Penrith their whole lives. After dancing at local studios growing up, they both transitioned to Brent Street’s Academy in high school, where they reunited, and are now both undertaking full time studies.
Though they’ve participated in many performance and competitive opportunities with Brent Street previously, the girls said they knew something big was coming when they received a suspicious email from the studio.
“We received an email first that was quite mysterious, and said Brent Street was having a new audition, and we just thought it was an elite dance group. They called it ‘Project 30’, and everyone was very confused,” White said.
“We went to the audition, and everyone was blindsided. In each group, we were told we were going to America, and we thought it was incredible.”
The audition was attended by over 300 dancers from Brent Street’s ranks, from as young as 14 years of age. After it was dwindled down to 30, it was revealed that they would be competing in ‘America’s Got Talent’.
“It was so crazy, and so weird to go over there with 30 of your friends. Who gets to do that?” Edwards said.
After finding out they had been accepted in early January, they would first fly over to compete in the auditions in March, leaving little time to prepare.
The first routine they performed was originally done by Brent Street students the year prior, and was the reason the studio was approached to compete in the first place. Ultimately, it earned them Howie Mandel’s Golden Buzzer, sending them straight through to the live finals.
“It was surreal, it didn’t feel like real life,” White said.
As rounds progressed, the group had less and less time to put each routine together, only being able to spend two days on their Grand Final routine.
But, both girls agreed that their favourite routine was performed in the Quarter Finals, to ‘you should see me in a crown’ by Billie Eilish.
“It just felt so cool to do, especially the last dance break,” Edwards said.
“We were so clean and with each other, and you could hear everyone breathing all at the same time.”
Though the group didn’t end up winning the competition, the two agreed that they took plenty away from the experience, reminding everyone that you can do anything you put your mind to.
“We would go to the summer camps at Brent Street growing up and say, ‘Imagine going to Brent Street’, and now we’re here, in the top 30 of this school,” White said.
Edwards agreed with the sentiment.
“Little us would be screaming!” she said.
Though the girls have some training still to do, this won’t be the last we see of them, with both sharing big dreams of travelling the world pursuing careers in the dance industry.
Cassidy Pearce
Cassidy Pearce is a news and entertainment journalist with The Western Weekender. A graduate of the University of Technology Sydney, she has previously worked with Good Morning Macarthur and joined the Weekender in 2022.