Faribault Dance Team Wins Championship Amid Controversy
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Faribault Emerald dance team took home the first place trophy in the class AAA high kick dance championship, but not without controversy. Many of their competitors claim they copied a dance and didn't deserve the win.
Over the weekend, six teams competed in the high kick state competition at Target Center.
On Saturday night, five of the dance teams -- Wayzata, Eastview, Chaska, Lakeville South, and Eden Prairie -- ignored instruction to line up for the awards ceremony.
Instead, they held hands and stood away from Faribault's team as a protest to their first place finish.
In doing so, Wayzata and Eastview were not awarded their second and third place trophies.
This comes after allegations that Faribault copied a dance from an out-of-state team.
The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) investigated and sent out a letter this week to the other teams' coaches, saying Faribault did not plagiarize a dance.
Ken Hubert, Faribault's athletic director, said the MSHSL notified him of the allegations on Monday. He acknowledged that a couple of the dance moves are similar, but it's just seconds in a four minute dance and did not break the rules.
He added that if you compare any of the dance routines, there are similarities in all of them.
In an email, Dave Stead with the MSHSL said they won't comment until it's been fully reviewed by the league and others.