Milford's Tara Vecchio dances for Jennifer Lopez

By Ginny Privitar
MILFORD — Milford's own Tara Vecchio, 18, recently hit a highlight of her young career when she performed on live TV as one of Jennifer Lopez's dancers during the star's Aug. 20 appearance on the Video Music Awards show on MTV.
Lopez performed a medley of her hits and received the VMA Video Vanguard Award that night. Vecchio was part of the show, and you might say she's been training for moments like this all her life. She's danced in competitions and at conferences, and has designed her own award-winning choreography. But the VMA telecast was her first live TV performance with a major celebrity.
"I was pretty stressed out," Vecchio said of her big night. "But (Lopez) was amazing, very caring. She really cared about the dancers and what the whole performance looked like, not just herself. She made sure we were all in unison for the performance."
Vecchio said the entire experience was amazing.
She studied for ten years at her parents' Milford dance and gymnastics studio, Dance Connections at 201 Harford Street, and now is one of the instructors. Her father, Mike, runs the business and her mother, Gricel, a dancer herself, teaches. At the studio Vecchio trained in ballet, pointe, hip-hop, tap, contemporary, jazz, and other styles of dance. She enjoys them all.
"It feels free every time when I dance," she said. "It feels natural."
She likens dance to a detox from the world.
Around age 11, Vecchio also started training at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City and still takes classes there.
"There are always new teachers and new things to learn," she said.
Vecchio is signed with Clear Talent Group and hopes to work with more artists and maybe even be part of a world tour.
She's also performed at the Radix Dance Convention and the ADE — Artistic Dance Exchange — where she has been named a "Prodigy All Star."
Vecchio is currently a freshman at Monmouth University, where she expects to major in communications with a concentration in journalism and public relations. That interest started when she attended Delaware Valley High School, where she wrote for Del.Aware, the school newspaper, and loved the experience.
Vecchio gives her parents the credit for her success.
"I always looked up to my mom who has pushed me to work harder, and that's what led me to train in New York City and basically got me where I am today, along with support from my father," Vecchio said.
"We're very proud of her," her dad said.