College Twirling: Olivia returns to the college field at North Carolina State University as a feature twirler and section leader.  Katie takes the field for her second and final year as a grad student at the University of Las Vegas. This season she was able to set up a Twirler for a Day program which was well received. 

High School Twirling: Meryl is now in her final year and again will be supporting her teams.  Megan will bring more skill and variety to the Woburn High School football field.

Performances: Elyse and Megan traveled to Atlantic City to march down the Atlantic City Boardwalk for the Miss America Show Us Your Shoes Parade for theh second year in a row. 

Billie and Meryl both had the exciting opportunity of traveling to Peru for 2 weeks as twirling ambassadors.  Amber and Miss Tracey accompanied them to Peru as a USA representative and twirling chaperone respectively.  It was an amazing experience for all three Strutters and Coach!

The Gangi Bay State Strutters knocked it out of the park, when they performed at the pre-game for a recent Lowell Spinners baseball game. Twentyseven twirlers, ages 3 to 19, performed to a fun medley. The energy level was high, their routine was fantastic and senior Strutter Olvia then went on to wow the crowd from the sidelines during the game.  So fun!

College Twirling: Jordan returns for her final year as the Girl In Black at Purdue University, Olivia is making her debut on the college field at North Carolina State University and Katie moves across country for her graduate work at the University of Las Vegas and is taking the field with the Rebels.

High School Twirling: Billie is now in her final year and again will be supporting her teams.  Meryl is a Junior and will be gracing the field for her high school, and Megan brings twirling back to Woburn after a many year hiatus.

Performances: A number of Strutters traveled to Atlantic City to march down the Atlantic City Boardwalk for the Miss America Show Us Your Shoes Parade.  Billie also had the exciting opportunity of traveling to Peru for 2 weeks as a twirling ambassador.  The Strutters were also invited to perform, along with the Watertown Blue Belles (Recreation program) at the Faire on the Square. 

Congratulations go out to our 2014 Senior Team for an outstanding performance in the Advanced Small Twirl Team division.  In a hotly contested event due to being a World qualifying year, the Senior Strutters did an amazing job pulling together.  The team, represented by Olivia, Katie, Kayla and Billie earned a place in the Finals and placed 5th over all.  Way to go Ladies!

Congratulations go out to our 2014 College Miss Majorette of Mass, Kayla.  Thumbs up also to 1st runner up Olivia in the Senior division, Beginner Juvenile Pageant Winner Kaitlyn, and Novice Pee Wee Pageant Winner Elyse.

Strutter Olivia has just had one of the most amazing twirling experiences. She spent two weeks traveling in Peru as one of 14 American twirlers, performing at a fashion show, horse show (on horseback!), mall, orphanage and many other locations. The two week trip culminated with a 5 mile parade to celebrate the Festival de Primavera.  Olivia is the 4th Strutter to be invited on this exciting trip, following in the footsteps of her sister Alyssa, and teammates Jordan and Kayla.

Strutters Kayla and Olivia have swept the Senior and Junior divisions respectively in the Advanced State Solo and Strut divisions.  Newest Strutter Emily took top honors and a glass medallion for winning the Junior Novice State Solo category.  Nice job everyone!

In the Spring of 1968 founder Diane Gangi brought together a group of young ladies to share her love for baton twirling.  Under the name of "Diane's Twirlettes" they marched in their first area parade.

Strutter Jordan, current Purdue Silver Twin and named Girl In Black for '13-'14, is performing with the Purdue All-American Band in Ireland in their Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade!

Congratulations go out to Jordan, who will grace the field at Purdue University next year as the newest Girl In Black, a coveted featured twirler position.  Way to go Jordy!

Way to go girls! Seven Strutters attended the 2013 Miss Majorette of Massachusetts contest and all came away winners! 

• Kayla is the new College Miss Majorette of MA & winner of Kane Cup traveling trophy named for Alyssa Kane, and

• Katie was 1st runner-up. 

• Olivia is the new Jr MM of MA & Miss Sweetheart. 

• Amber is the Jr. Int Pageant Winner and

• Justine, the Sr Beg Miss Sweetheart & 2nd runner-up in the Int Pageant. 

• Isabelle took home both the Juv Miss Sweetheart (adv) & is the Beg Pageant Winner, while

• Kaitlyn earned 1st runner-up in the Beg Pageant & 2nd runner-up Beg Miss Sweetheart.

We had a winner in 4 of the 5 MM/Pageants entered!

Congrats to my 3 Xtreme Twirlers: Katie, College; Olivia, Junior & Kaitlyn, Novice Juvenile. Great job girls!

We have a record number of Strutters performing on college football fields this year.  Three Mass. schools: Merrimack, UMass-Amherst and Endicott; as well as Purdue in IN.  Not on the field but gracing the court come basketball season will be a Strutter at Emmanuelle in Boston for the second year.

"Jayla," the duet of Jordan and Kayla, recently won the Senior National Championship for pairs twirling.  Congratulations!

The Strutters had a fabulous time in Washington, DC.  They marched in the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade!

Congratulations go out to Jordan, who will grace the field at Purdue University next year as one of the "Silver Twins," a coveted featured twirler position.

A small but strong contingent of Bay State Strutters hit the floor at the Coach of the Year contest in Belchertown, MA.  The Senior team started the day off on a high note for the group, doing an amazing job on their self-choreographed twirl team.  The girls then went on to nail the queen events -- winning all four divisions they competed in.  Special kudos to Isabelle, winning her first time in the advanced 7-9 queen division, and to Kaitlyn for winning beginner 7-9 queen in the first contest she attended.

At the end of the day, Meryl took home the Top Twirler individual high point award.  Even though we did not take home the high point team traveling trophy this year, I still feel like the Coach of the Year.  Some of the girls had this to say (compliments were published in a booklet at the contest):

I have fun learning new things with Miss Tracey.

                                         Lily  

Aunt Tracey is the best teacher in the whole world! She always comes up with the coolest, most fun ways to learn a trick or a routine. She also spend times finding tips and information to help us with our baton skills, our baton supplies and life in general. She is not just a coach, she is so much more! Thanks for everything!

                                Love Olivia 

Miss Tracey inspires me with her positive attitude and enthusiasm. She challenges me both as a twirler and as a person, pushing me to strive for more and helping me achieve my full potential.   (& always with a big smile)

                                 Meryl                                

Tracey Johnson has been the best coach you could ask for.  She is kind and patient and always creative.  I love when we work on new material because she finds way to connect sections in the most unique ways.  Miss Tracey has also been very supportive of me, especially over the last six months.  She believes in me even when I doubt myself..  I have learned so much from her about twirling and about myself that will carry me into college next year.  Miss Tracey, thank you for being my coach and mentor. 

                                         Love, Jordan

Thanks girls.  :)

Our Strutters from north of the border came away with big wins at the Miss Majorette of New Hampshire held in Salem!  Kayla is the new College Miss Majorette of NH and Billie is the (undefeated) Pre-teen Miss Majorette of NH.

Another excellent day!  Strutters entered 7 Miss Majorette and Pageant events and brought home the title in 4 of those events -- what an accomplishment!  Congratulations go out to:

• Jordan -- Miss Majorette of Massachusetts & recipient of traveling cup which also boasts Coach Tracey's name,

• Olivia -- Junior Miss Majorette of Massachusetts,

• Samantha -- Juvenile Beginner Massachusetts Pageant Winner, and

• Lily -- Pee Wee Beginner Massachusetts Pageant Winner.

The Strutters have been accepted to march as representatives of Massachusetts in the Cherry Blossom Parade.  This year's parade is especially momentous as the First Lady, Michelle Obama, will be the parade marshall.  This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the gift of the Cherry Blossom trees by Japan to the U.S.  The festival is planned to be greater than ever before.  Thirty performers are making plans for what will be an exciting and rewarding weekend!

The Battle of the Berkshires contest is over but not before 3 Strutters, Kayla, Olivia & Meryl, made it to the Advanced twirl-off along with another in the Novice twirl-off, Isabelle. Two Strutters are the first ever Advanced Xtreme Twirlers, Kayla & Olivia, along with one Beginner Xtreme Twirler, Samantha.  Kayla & Olivia also took the Advanced Harvest Queens while Justine took the Senior Beginner Harvest Queen.  All the results have yet to be reported in but in all, the Strutters had a good showing and took advantage to put it all out there on the floor!

The Strutters made their second appearance in the Everett Homecoming Day Parade.  This community really knows how to have fun and make the performers feel appreciated!  Then just a couple of weeks later, the team made it's 43rd appearance in the the Lions Club Halloween Parade in Woburn.  The day was miserable, in the aftermath of a record Nor'easter that dumped lots of snow, but the Strutters were there to give the hometown crowd a show!  Considering more than half of the scheduled units could not make it, the Lions Club was very appreciative that these young performers were able to march.

This year Kayla is following is fellow Strutters Jordan and Alyssa's footsteps as an Ambassador of Good Will in Peru. She is one of a dozen hand selected baton twirlers from the U.S. who are performing for a Spring Festival and at various civic events and venues in Peru. We look forward to hearing all about her experience!

Highlights:

  * Alyssa gave a touching farewell performance during the Big Show. Check it out here, on YouTube.

  * Coach Tracey, along with sisters Elaine & Diane, were honored with the naming of a team Dynasty Award for the Pre-teen Large Twirl Team Champions.

  * Strutters brought home over 27 medals and 3 trophies!

The senior team took home the gold in a hotly contested Masters Small Team division for Dance Twirl.  Gaga rocks!

Strutters always enjoy themselves and this year was no different at the 2011 NBTA Northeast Regional Championships. The Senior Team won the Regional Small Advanced Twirl Team division. Congratulations to Jordan for taking home the traveling awards for Regional Senior Solo, Miss Majorette and the Good Sportsmanship award. Kudos to Kayla for winning the Senior Regional 2-Baton and being part of Jayla, the Regional Senior Duet Champs! Hi-5 to Olivia for taking home the Boston Beanpot - the advanced solo twirl-off. Joining those Strutters who already qualified for Nationals is Alicia in Senior Intermediate Pageant and Deidre in Pre-teen Beginner Pageant!

Strutters were a big hit at the Wellesley Veterans Parade.  Pictures are still to come.

Strutters had a stellar day at the 2011 NBTA State Championships. Congratulations to Kayla, the new Senior State Champion Strut, 2-Baton and Best Appearing Champion, and to Billie, the new Pre-Teen State 2-Baton Champion and Miss Majorette. Kayla also qualified for the National Majorette Championships with a close 2nd - a 1st and 2nd from the two judges, only 0.1 point difference - as well as royalty for the Miss Majorette of America pageant.  Our third state competitor, Nikki, also had a fantastic day with plenty of hardware of her own.

The Gangi Strutters sent 20 athletes, from novice to advanced, to the State Championships, hailing from across eastern Massachusetts, as well as New Hampshire and Connecticut. Two Strutters, Jordan and Olivia, earned the right for a repeat trip to Nationals. In addition, the group brought home two State Team Championships in the Senior Small Twirl Team and Pre-Teen Small Dance Twirl divisions, as well as an additional 18 State Championships and wins at the various ability levels.

They took home 15 modeling titles, state & open, out of the 24 modeling events they entered:

• Jordan, State Sr Queen;

• Katie, State Sr Best Appearing;

• Kayla, Open Sr Queen & BA;

• Olivia, State & Open Jr Queen;

• Amber, Open Jr BA;

• Billie, Open Pre-teen BA;

• Samantha, State Juv Queen & BA;

• Nikki, Open Juv BA;

• Paige, State Sr Beg BA;

• Isabelle, State Juv Beg Queen & BA;

• Lily, State Pee-wee Beg BA.

Kudos to Jordan for getting 7th in the Congressional Cup Invitational! It was a good weekend all around, with each Strutter taking home at least one trophy or medal, against some pretty stiff competition.

Jordan represented the Strutters well at this year's Twirl Mania competition in Florida.  As a high scoring twirler at AYOP '10, Jordan earned a berth in the Junior Golds Tournament, coming out 4th overall.  She also took 4th in the Senior Elite Miss Twirl Mania.  Even better, she won the Junior Rhythmic and High School Classic.  Way to show them how "we roll!"

The Strutters had a hat trick and for the third straight year earned the Coach of the Year team high point with 450+ total combined points.  Congrats go to senior Katie  for earning her last two intermediate firsts and moving up to advanced for solo, as well as Deidre for moving up to advanced for modeling.  Strutters took home four Queen titles in all:

• Katie, Advanced Senior,

• Amber, Advanced Junior,

• Meryl, Advanced Pre-Teen,

• Deidre, Beginner Pre-Teen

• Kayla, Olivia & Paige also earned firsts in Best Appearing events (we do awesome in modeling!)

A shout-out also goes to Meryl for earning the individual high-point for the day and a $50 savings bond!

The Gangi Bay State Strutters knocked it out of the park, or should we say, the Garden, when they performed at the pre-game for the recent Boston Celtics vs. Houston Rockets basketball game. Eighteen Strutters, ages 3 to 27, performed to a medley from Hairspray. The energy level was high, their routine was nearly flawless and we even got some flashbacks on the video board during the game.  Check out this highlight video.

What a day!  Strutters entered 8 Miss Majorette and Pageant events and brought home the title in 5 of those events -- what an accomplishment!  Congratulations go out to:

• Alison -- College Miss Majorette of Massachusetts

• Jordan -- Miss Majorette of Massachusetts & recipient of traveling cup which also boasts Coach Tracey's name,

• Olivia -- Junior Miss Majorette of Massachusetts,

• Amber -- Junior Beginner Massachusetts Pageant Winner, and

• Samantha -- Juvenile Beginner Massachusetts Pageant Winner.

Shout outs also go to:

• the Advanced Senior Duet winners -- Alicia & Christine -- quite a group to beat out,

• Jordan & Kayla for winning 1st & 2nd respectively in the very large Senior Miss Sweetheart queen division,

• Olivia for taking home the Junior Miss Sweetheart banner,

• Amber for moving up to Intermediate in Solo, 

• the two new teams that had great performances -- Pre-teen DT/I'm Into Something Good, with only one lesson, the one when they learned the routine, Kayla, Billie, Nikki & Bella; and College Halftime/I've Got A Feeling, with only 3 lessons, Alison, Alicia, Christine, Arielle & Brianna,

• and all the Strutters who took home trophies and medals!  Awesome job everyone!!

The event organizers, Colleen & Peter Maccini, also made special recognition of Alyssa for her twirling accomplishment.  At the start of the awards ceremony, Alyssa gave a lovely performance.  What came next was completely unexpected, with a rose ceremony where each contestant gave Alyssa a long stemmed rose, which was then followed by Major Margie Gilbert giving her a stunning rhinestone pin with her title -- College Miss Majorette of America.  It did not end there, the directors then announced the creation of a new traveling award, a cup given by the Whitman-Hanson HS Majorettes (event hostesses) in recognition of 'Alyssa Kane, 2010 CMM of Mass and CMM of America', which will be awarded each year to the College Miss Majorette of Massachusetts winner.  Alyssa received a beautiful crystal cup as a remembrance of the award and occasion.  It was a fabulous presentation and recognition by Alyssa's home state and was only made that much more special when the first recipient of the Kane College Cup was announced to be teammate Alison.

The Gangi Bay State Strutters hosted the 11th Annual Battle of the Berkshires Benefit Contest.  Parents ran the concession and helped in a host of other contest roles.  This year the contest raised $2,010 for the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  Several Strutters also earned the right to compete in the end-of-the-day Battle Twirl-off.  Samantha, in the Novice category, and Billie, Olivia and Jordan, in the Advanced category.  Olivia was on fire and took the Advanced Twirl-off title!

UConn Grad Alyssa Kane was honored during the halftime at the recent UConn vs. UVA football game. She gave an encore performance with the Husky Marching Band, and then was part of a presentation where the Athletic Director and Band Director accepted a plaque commemorating Alyssa’s national title win for the University of Connecticut. It was an exciting moment for Alyssa!

What a warm welcome the Strutters received at this year's Boston Medical Center HalloweenFest. The annual event was held at the Shops at the Prudential Center in Boston and the Strutters had many young admirers. The show team performed a series of numbers to Halloween-themed music and channeled their inner devils, witches and more. The Strutters then shared their skills with Woburnites during the annual Lions Club Halloween Parade. As the hometown favorites, these young ladies loved putting their best foot forward for their families and friends.

Olivia traveled down to Clemson University to participate as a Tiger Twirler for a Day.  She was thrilled to be able to participate in pre-game and invited to twirl in front of the student section at halftime!

Jordan is following is fellow Strutter Alyssa's footsteps as an Ambassador of Good Will in Peru. She is one of a dozen hand selected baton twirlers from the U.S. who are performing for a Spring Festival and at various civic events and venues in Peru. We look forward to hearing all about her experience!

The Strutters are on the schedule to perform at the Celtics vs. Houston Rockets game on January 10, 2011. The group will take center court for pre-game and are thrilled at the prospect!

Alyssa has been getting air time lately on local cable access. The Woburn station has been showing both the 'Twirlingly Yours' Documentary on the Gangi sisters & team, as well as the '2010 Congressional Cup Championship', in which Alyssa was a finalist. She will also be featured as part of a charity telethon to be aired in January 2011.