South Florida dance mother, daughter duo bring home national championship titles

Three South Florida high school dance teams have earned big bragging rights after bringing home national championship titles.

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Coral Reef High School, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy and St. Brendan High School won titles at the 2025 National Dance Team Championship from Jan. 31- Feb. 2, 2025, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Two of those teams are led by a South Florida mother and daughter with dance roots. Rebecca Santalo has been the coach for the Coral Reef High School “Cudettes” for the last 25 years.

Her daughter, Alexandra Santalo, brought home her title win with her team as the coach of the Lourdes dancers over the weekend. According to Alexandra, 16 years ago to the date, she won her first UDA Championship with mom.

Coral Reef High School won in the Large Varsity Division I, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Large Varsity Division II – Hip Hop.

The Coral Reef High School “Cudettes” brought home two national championship titles in 2023 in the “Large Varsity Hip Hop” and “Large Varsity Jazz” categories.

“It was 16 years later to the date. Now my 16 girls won their first National Championship. My mom’s been coaching for over 25 years and was the one that started the team I now coach. It’s definitely very full circle,” said Alexandra Santalo.

St. Brendan High School also brought home top marks in the Small Varsity Division II Jazz competition and Junior Varsity Division II Jazz & Hip Hop.

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“This year has been an incredible one for our program. Both my varsity and JV teams won national titles, marking the schools’ history that both teams have brought home championships in the same year,” Sahara Muñoz, Dance Director and Head Coach, St. Brendan High School.

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“A fun fact about our Varsity team is that we worked incredibly hard to achieve a team aerial this year. Many of our dancers naturally executed their aerials to the left, but we made it a goal for the entire team to synchronize it to the right. This was a huge accomplishment for us and a testament to the dedication and adaptability of our dancers,” said Muñoz.

According to a media release, the Universal Dance Association, a Varsity Spirit brand, hosted 5,935 athletes and 374 teams across 36 states for the competitions.

The National Dance Team Championship has been featured on ESPN since 1983. Varsity Spirit partnered with the Walt Disney World Resort in 1995.

Watch the Our Lady of Lourdes Academy dance team performance in the video below: