Three hours before the sun rose over Orlando, fans lined up outside the ESPN Wide World of Sports to grab a seat at the AdventHealth Arena to watch the Dance finals that included Jazz, Pom, and Hip-Hop. While the first performance wasn’t until 8:25 am this morning. Thousands lined up as early as 4:30 am to get a spot to see all the amazing finals routines on the last day of UDA Nationals. This is why it is called the “Super Bowl of Dance.”
Finals day lived up to its hype as teams from around the country had one more chance to achieve something they had spent months working for… including your Minnesota Spirit Squad.
The Minnesota Spirit Squad had three groups performing on the last day of competition. The first group was the Dance Team performing their Jazz routine in front of a packed house. Many times in between performances, security officials had to remind fans not to sit in the aisles and to block entrances due to fire code. Before the Minnesota Dance team took the floor, the team was shown waiting backstage on the screens, and the entire arena erupted in cheers for your Gophers.
Gophers Alums Lauren Busyn and Ava Wagner choreographed the Jazz number this year. They mentioned the team’s motto, “Prove There’s More,” and reminded the team to “Just be Minnesota” before the finals performance. On the routine they created, Ava Wagner said, “We wanted to go out of our comfort zone this year and try something new. We used a different style than in the past couple of years. We really wanted to challenge our artistry and movement in this dance.”
The Dance team delivered on finals, executing the best routine of the weekend so far. Coach Lauren Busyn said afterwards, “It was peak emotion, they let it out all there, peak skills, and they were all so locked in.”
The Jazz Team once again made clean technique look consistent and flawless despite the high level of difficulty in the choreography.
After finishing eighth after the preliminaries, and fourth in the semi-finals. Your Minnesota Dance team took home the bronze in the Jazz division. GopherHole tried to see when Minnesota last didn’t medal in Jazz, and it had a hard time finding it on Google. That is how dominant your Minnesota Spirit Squad has been.
Speaking of dominance, the Minnesota Dance team woke up this morning as three-time defending champions in the pom division. This division has been owned by Minnesota, as they have taken the first 10 of the last 15 years. They entered today with the second-best score in the semi-finals. Coming off a great performance in Jazz, they looked to carry that momentum into their pom routine. While the performance wasn’t perfect, their execution of the choreography, synchronization, and focus were what helped drive them to a winning score.
The Gophers scored a 97.3 in their finals performance, which was good enough for them to win a national title, their fourth in a row. It was a very competitive group as Texas Tech finished second with a 97.1.
On the pressure of winning it four times in a row and continuing the standard of excellence in the pom category, Spirit Squad Coach Amanda Gaines said that “Minnesota has to raise the bar because every time it continuously raises the bar. The competition continues to get more and more elevated and insane. I have so much respect for every team that’s out there.”
When all of the pom titles Minnesota has won in the last 15 years, Gaines said she “doesn’t take for granted how difficult it can be and how special it is. I don’t take for granted how hard every team is working to achieve that, so to end up in this place at the end of the weekend is just incredible.”
Freshman Rayna Reid spoke to GopherHole minutes after winning her first national title as a freshman, “This team has been through a lot this past year, being with this team is absolutely amazing, this reward is the tip of the iceberg. I’m excited for what more is the come.” Reid quickly mentioned how much the seniors of the dance team mean to her and how unified the team is. “Nothing can ever bring us down, and I’m just so thankful and grateful to be on this team.”
Assistant Dance Team Coach Tia Tumbleson found it easy to talk about the seniors, saying, “These seniors are some of the best to come through the program. They are selfless and servant leaders, and the calm in the storm of competition. They take moments off adversity by the reins, and they guide this team.”
On the role freshman Rayna Reid has on the team, coach Tia said, “She is a gamer. She is the voice of hype; she fuels everybody around her. She bought into the program really quickly and has shared her lightness and brightness with everyone. We are really fortunate to have her.”
If you type in UDA in any search bar on Social Media, your algorithm will immediately be flooded with videos of the school’s performances. You will also be confronted with thousands of opinions, conspiracy theories, and criticisms. GopherHole’s engagement on TikTok increased to record levels after posting UDA material. The dance world is bigger than you think, and it is full of a very passionate community. The Minnesota Spirit Square took a break from social media during the UDA competition to tune out the noise. The whole team was intentional in staying true to what they have been working on and believing in what they are doing. Gaines said the team tries to go into the weekend with an open mindset on “focusing on what we can control, what we execute, how we prepare, how mentally tough we are, and the energy we bring into the space.” In a world full of Social Media experts, Minnesota stuck together as a team when it mattered most.
Minnesota is the state of hockey, but could it also be the state of dance? There are five schools from Minnesota competing at the UDA Nationals this weekend: the University of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota – Duluth, St. Thomas, St. Cloud State, and Mankato State University. Amanda Gaines was quick to say how special Minnesota is for dance. She acknowledged the “best of the best” events, the fans that travel to Florida, and the incredible support the U gets from the local community.
While the Spirit Squad has strong support from the University and the athletic department, one wonders whether it needs more. The Gophers are one of the few Big Ten teams at UDA that don’t have their own dedicated space on campus. Ohio State just built a brand new facility for its Spirit Squads, while Iowa just renovated an old property for its Dance Team. The Gophers Spirit Squad had to find a place off campus to practice right before Nationals. Thankfully, local studios help out the team to prepare. How does the most successful athletic team on campus not have its own space to practice? The University has to make that priority. The student-athletes on the Spirit Squad don’t receive scholarships from the U. Most of the members work multiple jobs to help offset the expenses dance entails. On top of training and practice, they show up and support football, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and men’s and women’s hockey games. They do all of this and excel in the classroom, where the Spirit Squad averages a 3.65 GPA. While a few members do have NIL deals, they aren’t as much as other student athletes get in other programs. While coach Amanda Gaines was quick to credit the athletic program for their support, she also wants Gophers fans to know that this Spirit Square has consistently proven that they can do a lot with less, and said, “How amazing would it be if we didn’t have less? If we had a facility, if we had academic support. But you know, I am really fortunate compared to many of my peers. We have a good life here in Minnesota. But I know that the team would love to just feel like they’re on equal footing with the rest of the athletic department.”
Coach Gaines knows how tumultuous the college athletic world is right now, with NIL being such a hot topic, but no matter what your opinion on dance is. The most successful athletic team at the University of Minnesota in the last 25 years is the spirit squad. And it’s not even close. To prove that point again, each Spirit Squad team medaled this weekend. That is the definition of success.
It’s time for the University of Minnesota to equal the effort that the Spirit Squad puts into the University. It would be reckless and unwise not to do so.