University of Minnesota dance team heads to world championships with ‘heart over hype’

With every synchronized step, the University of Minnesota dance team wows its adoring crowds with the sport of dance.

A winner of 23 national championships, it’s heading next week to the International Cheer Union World Championships in Orlando, seeking another gold. It’s the team’s third time representing the United States at the world competition, and these athletes/dancers are ready.

The energy in Williams Arena was palpable earlier this month as the Gophers dance team practiced its pom routine. The athletes spun pirouettes with precision and moved with synchronicity in intricate floor patterns.

For freshman Brooklyn Leste, from Champlin, synchronizing the turns is one of the biggest challenges for the team.

“We spend a lot of time on that — trying to get your spot and your turn perfectly aligned with everybody next to you,” she said. “It’s not necessarily doing the technique alone, but doing it with the team is the most challenging part, so you can be all in unison.”

After taking first place in pom (its third-straight pom title in a row) and second place in the jazz divisions at the Universal Dance Association Dance Nationals in January, the U’s team heads back to Florida for the international competition slated for April 23-25. The U.S. has won the jazz and pom sections at the world championships for the past three years.

The Minnesota team will be competing in the same arena in Orlando where it had its victory — the Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort. Freshman Emma Le said she’s excited to return, already knowing what the stage is like.

“When I walked in the first time, I had no clue what to expect, and I was just starstruck the whole time,” she said. “But now going into Worlds, I know exactly what the stage looks like, exactly how the crowd is going to be.”

Le said she felt intimidated joining the team at first, given the U’s reputation as the most decorated dance team in the country.

“Everyone here is the best from where they came from,” she said. “I’m inspired every single day by how amazing everyone is on this team.”

The Burnsville native has accomplished things this year she never thought she’d do.

“I’m just pushed every second of every day, even when I’m outside of practice,” she said. “I’m constantly being driven and motivated to be better because of these coaches, and they just pour their heart and soul into this.”

Head coach Amanda Gaines is in her 13th season leading the U’s dance team, but she’s been involved with it for some 20 years, first as an athlete, then as an assistant coach and choreography consultant.

Gaines started dancing when she was just 3. She learned ballet, jazz, tap and lyrical, eventually joining the dance team at Wayzata High School. The U was just starting to break into the national scene when she was looking at colleges.

“I made the team my freshman year, and the rest is history,” she said.

About half the team comes from Minnesota, with other athletes coming from across the country. Most have been dancing since a young age, often in a studio setting at first and then competing with a dance team in high school.

Gaines attributes the team’s success to its incredible athleticism, as well as its artistry. The athleticism comes into play with the high level of technique the dancers are able to perform — such as quadruple and quintuple turns, or turn sections that are as long as eight counts, with added variety such as speed and direction.

Then there is the two-part, jaw-dropping sequence. First, the athletes turn 540 degrees in the air. Then they dive into an aerial (that’s 1½ rotations in the air followed by a cartwheel without hands).

Not only is the 25-member team strong top to bottom in its foundational technique, Gaines said, but it’s also creative.

“With our jazz routine this past year specifically, it was really about storytelling and kind of focusing in on the emotion,” she said.

Before it leaves for Florida for the world championships, the dance team will perform at 3 p.m. Saturday at the U’s Williams Arena at the UMDT Worlds Showcase, which also features dance studios from around the state.

For the ICU contest, the team will repeat its winning pom routine from the Dance Nationals that Gaines choreographed. But it will be doing a different jazz routine from the one it performed in January in Orlando. The piece for the world competition, set to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” was first choreographed by the team in the summer of 2022, and has fierce grit and groove.

The new jazz routine, Gaines said, has less storytelling than the earlier one, but it’s still athletic.

“The synchronization will be top-notch, as usual,” she said. “But you know, we’re just having fun.”

Emily Jeffcoat, a junior from Florida, is injured and so won’t be competing, but she has been part of the process in creating the routine. “It’s pretty cool to have that process of all of our brains coming together and being able to show what we love and create a piece that all of us came together to do,” she said.

When the team performed synchronized turns to Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” at the Dance Nationals in 2024, it earned screams and went viral with millions of views on TikTok and other social media platforms.

Leste said that while it’s nice that dance is getting recognized as a sport, the athletes try to keep their phones away. “We had a saying this year,” she said. “It was heart over hype. No matter how much hype we get or don’t get, it always comes back to our heart.”

For Jeffcoat, there is something else that comes into play.

“Yes, we have the talent, but we also have the drive and the love for dance,” she said.

When: 3 p.m. Sat.

Where: Williams Arena, 1925 University Av. SE, Mpls.

Tickets: $15, gophersports.com