The coach of the Faribault dance team that won the controversial high kick competition at last weekend's state tournament told the Faribault Daily News that several other squads "gathered and screamed" outside of her team's dressing room after Saturday night's awards ceremony.
"To me that was nothing short of bullying," Lois Krinke said.
Her team won the Class 3A high kick competition, and the other five teams in the finals were disqualified for refusing to take their places during the awards ceremony. Instead, girls and coaches from those teams stood across the floor from the winners at Target Center.
The losing teams alleged that Faribault plagiarized the routine of the Copper Hills Azurettes, a team from Utah. A video on YouTube showed similarities in the routines. The Minnesota State High School League had approved the routine last week before the competition began.
A pepfest is planned at the school this afternoon. A woman who answered the phone at the school told a Star Tribune editor that no media will be allowed in the building for the event. The team is also scheduled to be recognized at tonight's girls basketball game.
Miles Trump of the Daily News wrote: "Krinke has contended the Emeralds did not plagiarize the Azurettes but used their dance as inspiration for the Emeralds' routine. She also says the two routines have striking differences, such as style of dance, length of the routine and music arrangement, among others. Drawing inspiration from other sources is common in high school dance, Krinke said."
Krinke told Trump: "I stand by what we did. Like I said on the radio, if they're going to come after me for using a couple moves that have been done many times around the state of Minnesota, then they need to look at all these other dance teams that go to all these private dance studios in the Cities, and they get dances from these studios and take them back to the high school and use them."
You can read Trump's full report here.
At least one team didn't join the reported antagonism toward the Faribault team.
The Cannon Falls team earned unhappy headlines last year when its coach was fired after team members brought toy guns to what was described as hazing or a team-building exercise, depending on who was doing the describing.
The Star Tribune's story about the controversy and a blog post by Patrick Reusse received more than 1,000 comments combined as of Tuesday morning.
Members of the team have been told not to talk to the media, but a former team captain said there has been tension over the years between Faribault, which is located about 50 miles south of the Twin Cities, and metro-area schools.
Frankie McIntyre told the Faribault newspaper: "We've never really been that great with all of the metro teams. But the funny thing is, I was going to go and (be a) fall coach for Lakeville South (one of the disqualified teams), and as of Saturday, I'm so glad that I didn't. I have never been more disgusted with the actions that have happened."
