Minnesota Dance Team Steals Routine: Scandal Surfaces In State High School Dance Championship [Video]
A controversy over a Minnesota dance team stealing a routine from another team in Utah flared up during a big championship in Minneapolis. Dance teams from five different Minnesota high schools were disqualified for protesting winners of the state tournament at Target Center Saturday night.
KARE 11 News reports that the Faribault Emeralds dance team won the tournament for Class 3A High Kick, but the other competing teams refused to participate in the awards ceremony.
There were claims that Faribault plagiarized a part of their routine and the Minnesota State High School League investigated the allegations before the final competition.
An MSHSL spokesperson explains that the Minnesota dance team was accused of stealing a routine from a dance team in Utah. Side-by-side videos were compared of the two teams and it was determined that Faribault didn’t violate any rules of the competition.
An official letter of MSHL’s findings were released.
“… current MSHSL Dance Team rules were not violated. This team will be allowed to compete in the tournament this weekend.”
Faribault Dance Coach Lois Krinke does admit to borrowing the Utah team’s “concept,” but added in their “own moves” for the questioned routine. Krinke responds to the controversy by saying if there were any similarities in Faribault’s routine to those of Utah’s team, “it was four seconds here and there and never consecutively.” She maintains that the team had performed the dance routine three times before “and nobody said a thing. We get to sections and we win, and then all this happened. So you draw the conclusion.”
Faribault had a unanimous victory in the high kick competition, but the other five didn’t line up to receive their awards. They positioned themselves on the side of the court, holding hands, refusing to accept their awards. Krinke says they shouted, “United we stand. We are one.”
MSHSL is unhappy with the other dance teams poor display of sportsmanship.
According to Sport Act, the league issued a statement Sunday that said they would “further investigate” the dance routine scandal.
“League staff and the Board of Directors will determine a course of action after that investigation is complete.”
Rivals at the state dancing competition firmly believe that this Minnesota dance team stole a routine from another team. Regardless of the initial decision by MSHSL, the five other teams stood firm in their beliefs that the judging was completely wrong.
[Photo Credit: YouTube video screenshot]
