Hugo Miguez & Stacy Kay - The Open 2025 Classic Division Finals

You wanna know something cool? This weekend marked our 10th classic routine together. Ten. A full decade of putting our art on the floor, year after year, through changes in the world, our bodies, our businesses, and our lives. The thing that keeps us showing up through the injuries, the burnout, the doubt? You.
Our Florida community. The dancers we coach. The next generation watching.
You’re the reason we keep creating.

We won’t sugarcoat it — last year was one of the hardest chapters we’ve ever walked through. There was a moment we truly thought we wouldn't return to the Classic division this year. But something deeper pulled us back… the encouragement from our peers, our coaches, the dancers we admire, and even the legends no longer with us who shaped our love for this craft.

So we answered the call — and stepped into the practice room with a mission: Accentuate the Positive.
(Yes, that’s the name of our routine song — and the reminder we needed most.)

This routine became a healing journey for us. And performing it at The Open, experiencing the crowd’s reaction to our Tinker Bell heel ride with a twist, wearing costumes brought to life by the incredible Arianna Virgillio, and sharing the floor with so many artists… it was magic.

We’re grateful to have made Classic Finals and place 10th out of 23 couples, but honestly what made this year our favorite Open ever was the people who were there with us.
Florida showed UP.
We are incredibly proud of our Rising Star Classic Finalists Hannah & Shawn, and our MasterClass Team placing 3rd! Watching each of you shine… yeah, we were full-on proud Papa & Mama Bears over there. 🥹

Someone told us this weekend, “It’s a shame the largest stage for our dance is a competition, because someone inevitably goes home feeling not good enough.”
And gosh… that hit hard.

Because what we witnessed this year was art — raw, emotional, technical, brave art. From prelims to finals, dancers pushed storytelling, partnership, acting, musicality, and costuming into an entirely new era. If you’ve never been to The Open, it’s impossible to explain how powerful it is to watch a community move together through dance.

We laughed, we cried, we stood in awe, and above all… we were proud to be part of an art form that continues to evolve in a world that often resists change.

So what do you say…
should we keep accentuating the positive? ✨

www.hugoandstacy.dance
www.districtdanceacademy.com