How Tennessee's Lily Faught is making history at Florida Dance Worlds
Lily Faught, 17, will be the first special needs dancer from Tennessee to compete at Florida's Dance Worlds, her coaches say.
Lily Faught has always loved to dance. The now 17-year-old Williamson County girl started dancing at the Dance Mania Nashville studio when she was five, but she said she always had aspirations of making it to the big stage. As she twirled around stages as a soloist, she said she dreamed of dancing as a part of the studio's competition team.
“Our team competes at the USASF Dance Worlds, which is the most elite competition for all dance teams. It is an invitation-only competition that takes place in Orlando each year,” her coach Kirstin Hawk explained. So, when Dance Mania’s sister studio reached out with a unique opportunity, it felt like fate.
Dance Mania All Stars in Melbourne, Florida, qualified for the DanceAbilities division at the World competition, but one of their dancers got sick and wouldn’t be able to participate, Hawk said. So they asked if Nashville had anyone, and after five years of wishing and waiting, Lily has her chance and she says she couldn't be more thrilled. “I like to be the star of the show,” she said.
“Everybody cheers me on and makes me happy. ” The USASF Dance World Competition brings together more than 3,500 dancers from all over the U. S.