Minnesota Dance Team Steals Routine - The Minnesota State High School-Kick Dance Championship ended awfully, with no second or third winners as other participants boycotted the award ceremony after the Faribault Emeralds were declared winners.
According to reports, on Saturday night the Emeralds were left standing alone at the floor of Target Center to accept their first-place medals and trophy. The other five teams who participated in the tournament refused to congratulate the Faribault athletes after the ceremony.
The teams, their coaches and parents were not pleased that the Emerald performed a routine they claim to have been copied from a Utah dance team. A YouTube video shows that the Emeralds copied the out-of-state dance team's heavy makeup and music.
Due of these reasons and the fact that the high school league cleared the Emeralds of violating any laws, the five teams staged a protest.
They were subsequently disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct.
"I felt really heartbroken," Faribault senior captain Abbie Meehi said. "They kind of hurt me hurt knowing they're not with us."
The incident has left a question on everyone's mind; did the Emeralds steal the dance moves or not? According to Erin Kruesi, who blogs with the name 'Coach Erin' on Minnesota High School Dance Teams Online, the Emeralds only copied a few seconds of the other team's choreography in their four minutes long routine.
Kruesi, who also coaches a small team that didn't make it to the tournament, said the costume, music and make-up don't account for scores.
"This happens a lot," Kruesi said. "A lot of things in dance are not exactly brand-new ideas. They made every attempt to use inspiration. They didn't internationally cross the line into plagiarism."
Lois Krinke, Faribault head coach agreed, saying "You know, there was maybe four counts here and there that had similar things, but it was not plagiarized."
However, Utah Dance Coach Shannon Mortensen said "They kind of hit the trifecta. They copied like the costuming, the music, the theme and some choreography. So, it's more than just like they stole a few movements here and there. They kind of took like a whole idea."
According to John Millea, spokesman for the Minnesota State High School League, the issue of plagiarism was brought up before Saturday's finale and the league cleared the Emeralds to use the routine as it did not breach any laws.
He accused the coaches of being behind the protest.
"What they did was totally wrong. That's not fair to the girls on those five teams. This is all orchestrated in advance by the coaches of those five teams before the ceremony. They knew what they were going to do," he said.
