Showing off their talent

Last Updated on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 03:46 pm Written by Christie Rotondo Tuesday, July 17, 2012 08:00 am

Unity in Motion

Locals ready to shine on America’s Got Talent

WILDWOOD CREST- If 16-year-old Tiffany DePaul and her team, Unity in Motion, move on to the Top 24 on America’s Got Talent next Tuesday, she said she would be speechless.

“I don’t have words to describe how great that would be,” she said. “It would be great to show them even more of what we can do, to be in the top 24, to be one of those acts that really is America’s best.”

DePaul is a rising junior at Wildwood Catholic and a Wildwood Crest resident, and her father, Thomas DePaul, is the Crest’s chief of police. She has been performing with the dance, acrobatic, and contortionist team out of Jersey Cape Dance and Gymnastics Academy in Cape May for the past four years. On July 24, Unity in Motion will perform at the quarterfinals for America’s Got Talent in Newark.

“It’s great to show America what we can do, being from such a small town,” DePaul said.

Under the direction of Stina Smith, Unity in Motion first auditioned for America’s Got Talent in October in New York City. Then, they were put through to Vegas, and that episode aired about three weeks ago. Now, they are set to perform in the quarterfinals in their home state on July 24 at 8 p.m.

“They are working extremely hard,” Smith said, “There’s a tremendous amount of pressure being put on them to step up to the next level, but they are making it work.”

The group, which is made up of seven girls ages 11 through 16, all from Cape May County, practice three hours a day- six days a week. They are all trained in contortion, acrobatics, and dance.

“Being a contortionist group, that combines gymnastics and tumbling as well as dance, it kind of sets us aside from everybody else,” Smith said.

Howard Stern, one of the show’s judges, agrees. During an episode that aired on July 11, he told one contortionist contestant to “Keep your eye on Unity in Motion. We haven’t seen them here on this stage but they do some of what you do—and they do strength and they do a lot of dance.”

Stern also told another dance group that in comparison to Unity in Motion, “You don’t match up to them. That’s the problem.”

“They were all screaming on the couch and texting each other,” Smith said when the girls heard Stern’s comments about them.

Smith said that for this upcoming episode, she’s excited that the girls have a home field advantage.

“Just to be in our own state, that’s extremely exciting,” she said, “We’re excited to have family and friends and our own state representing us here.”

DePaul said the quarterfinals filming in Newark will allow friends and family to come and watch her and her “second family” perform.

“We’re like family,” she said, “And to be able to achieve something as big as this, with people I’m so close with, is one of the best parts.”

Unity in Motion will perform live on America’s Got Talent 8 p.m. July 24 on NBC. The results show will follow on Wednesday, July 25 at 9 p.m.

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