If you’ve followed competitive dance, Barrio Dance hardly needs an introduction. If you haven’t, America’s Got Talent is about to provide one.

On Tuesday, July 7, the studio’s house company, Barrio Dance Factory, will appear on the NBC competition series, marking its biggest stage yet after years of success on the national dance circuit.

Founded by choreographer AJ Juarez, Barrio Dance has locations in downtown Madison and Verona. It has become one of the Midwest’s premier hip-hop training studios, offering classes for everyone from first-time dancers to aspiring professionals. As a competition-based extension of the studio, Barrio Dance Factory has steadily built a national résumé, earning top finishes at the World of Dance Summit in 2024 and 2025. While those competitions carry plenty of prestige within the dance world, America’s Got Talent offers something different: an audience of millions.

The opportunity arrived in an email Juarez almost ignored. “AJ says he couldn’t believe it,” says Nicole Juarez, Barrio’s assistant director and AJ Juarez’s spouse. “He thought it was a spam email.” Once the invitation proved real, the company had roughly six weeks to reshape an existing competition routine for television. “We had a six-minute piece that we loved that needed to be cut down to like 90 seconds,” says Nicole. 

That meant more than just trimming choreography. The team reworked the piece for television, taking into consideration how movement would read through the camera instead of from an audience seat. The entire performance — including its music and story — is being kept under wraps until the episode airs.

For assistant choreographer and performer Allison Larsen, the America’s Got Talent appearance is the latest milestone in a team built around continual growth. “We don’t just compete, we also train a lot,” she says. “I’ve seen so much of myself growing as a dancer on the team. As for the performance itself, Larsen hints that viewers may not want to make assumptions. “People who know we do hip-hop are going to be surprised by the music choice,” she says. 

Despite the bright lights and celebrity judges, Nicole adds the biggest surprise was how quickly the nerves disappeared. “We were not nervous by the time we took the stage. We felt so welcomed and prepared,” she says. “I can really remember standing on that big X on stage, looking into Simon Cowell’s eyes. I was present for it.”

For the dance company as a whole, the television appearance is about more than one performance. “Our goal with this opportunity is so that people can see there is talent, a high caliber of training, and a dance community in the Midwest in a city of our size,” Nicole says.

Tune in to NBC on July 7 at 7 p.m. to see the performance. 

Kelly Aiglon is digital editor at Madison Magazine.

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