Arab News

DUBAI: The Lebanese dance troupe Mayyas, who were named winners of season 17 of “America’s Got Talent” last week, returned to Lebanon on Friday to a hero’s welcome with colorful bouquets, heart-shaped balloons and posters gifted to them by their families, friends and fans.

Clips of a large crowd cheering for the all-female crew as they arrived at Rafic Hariri International Airport circulated on social media.

“You made Lebanon proud,” read the posters.

On Thursday, the group took home the $1 million grand prize after winning “America’s Got Talent.”

“We can’t believe what’s happening,” group member Marcel Assal told Arab News after the show. “We can’t believe what we’ve achieved — giving so much energy, leaving our work and education, dedicating our time to training every day to be here to represent our country, and this is what we were looking for.

“We were very stressed out by the fact that we had to (prepare the dance) in two-to-three days, but when we went up on stage and heard the cheers, the audience gave us a push and an adrenaline rush that wasn’t there and we did it,” added Assal.

The crew’s choreographer, Nadim Cherfan, said: “This win gave me an opportunity to dream again. When you have a dream and you achieve it, you start to look for another dream. So I’m very happy that there is something to look forward to now — something to dream of, something to fight for.”