The Louisiana State University Dance Team, otherwise known as the Tiger Girls, is going viral for their winning performance at the 2022 Universal Dance Association (UDA) College Nationals. Here, the team took home sixth place. Regardless of their award, the message behind this performance is what matters the most.
Prior to the competition, the team was told that they would not be able to compete due to conflicts with the COVID-19 virus. This was hard for the Tiger Girls to believe as the only reason they could not participate was that they were able to perform at other university events within the past year. It was clear that there was a bigger reason for shutting down the opportunity to perform at Nationals.
This begs the question: “What if they were an all-male team?” Because there seemed to be inconsistencies with the reasoning behind the university’s denial, the team created a petition that asked for support. This petition received over 25,000 signatures and gave them the power to perform at Nationals.
With the help of their choreographers, Carson Rowe and Sammy McFadden, the Tiger Girls brought something new to the stage. The song, “Like a Boy” by Ciara, was strategically chosen because of the unfair treatment towards the girls for simply being girls. Their performance included some movements that resembled masculine culture. Altogether, the team showed the judges, audience, and their university their true response to being minimized because of their sex.
Regardless of whether you are interested in dance or not, this performance will give you goosebumps. Not only was this message intended to be given to LSU, but it was also intended to recognize any other female athletes who have been silenced and pushed to the side in their athletic programs.