The LSU Tigers Girls Dance Team recently won the 2022 Nationals after the school refused to send them the previous year.

The LSU Tigers Girls dance team was established back in 1999 and is still carrying on today. They are a group of 20 girls who perform at sports events at Louisiana State University and participate in promotion opportunities, activities on campus, and all-around their community. 

Everything needed for the sport is provided by the athletic department, including uniforms, practice gear, and their travel is paid for. 

Being on the team is a year-long commitment that all the girls are willing to stand by. The girls practice 10 hours a week and work hard in order to represent their school well and to be able to compete in Nationals. 

The Louisiana State University Dance Team has been going on for 25 years. For the past 23, they have competed in the UDA/UCA College Nationals competition, which is the most prestigious college cheer and dance competition in the country. 

In 2021, LSU officials confirmed that they weren’t going to allow the tigers to compete in the national competition due to COVID-19 constraints. Sammy McFadden, a former LSU Tiger, made an Instagram post explaining that COVID-19 isn’t the real reason that LSU won’t let the girls compete, but because they felt “other sports come first.” 

A video was also posted by McFadden with former members of the dance team chanting “Let Them Compete.” A petition by the team was started in hopes that the school would let them go to Nationals. Although they got more than 15,000 signatures, they were unsuccessful. It was the first time in two decades that the girls didn’t compete in that competition.

This 2021-22 dance season, the LSU Tigers took the opportunity to go to the UDA/UCA Nationals and decided to spread a message with their dance skills. 

At Nationals, they performed “Like a Boy” by Ciara to show women empowerment and to get the message across that not only women, but dancers, are athletes too. Their coach, Kandace Hale, knew they were taking a risk with the dance they did because it wasn’t a common style to perform at the competitive collegiate competition.

 The girls ended up coming in first place and winning the first national title in 12 years. Senior Captain Londyn Daniel said, “We represented not only ourselves but people across the country as well that are kind of similar to us.”

Many people have been remaking their, what now seems to be, famous dance on various social media platforms to show women dancers coming together and supporting each other. 

This won’t be the end for the Tigers.