Northside dance champs receive congressional honor

In June 2023, on the strength of a successful GoFundMe campaign and with an abundance of talent, Dance City traveled west to Las Vegas to compete in the esteemed Starpower National Dance Competition.

While going up against some of the most storied dance troupes in the U.S., these newcomers (girls between the ages of four to 17) from the North Side not only made a remarkable showing but also brought the National Championship trophy back home to Minneapolis.

This triumph was chronicled extensively in the local media, including the pages of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. Yet it also received attention on the floor of the United States Congress, where, on July 14, 2023, Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota’s 5th District delivered a Congressional Proclamation in honor of Dance City’s national title.

The congresswoman’s statement reads, in part: “I rise today to celebrate the exceptional achievement of Dance City, a local dance team based in North Minneapolis, for their remarkable victory at the Star Power National Talent Competition.

“The dedication, talent, and hard work demonstrated by the members of Dance City have propelled them to extraordinary success on the national stage, winning them first place in Hip Hop and First Place overall.

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“Faced with competition from over 100 teams around the country, the Dance City girls rallied to the challenge and emerged with their well-deserved victory… I could not be happier to have Minneapolis represented by these young bright girls.”

The significance of this moment was not lost on Cierra Burnaugh, founder and director of Dance City.

“When Representative Omar and her team approached us about all of this, it was sort of overwhelming,” she explains. “What an honor to have our name mentioned in the U.S. Capitol. Wow! It’s still hard for me to believe.”

This past Tuesday, Dance City hosted Representative Omar at their rehearsal space inside North Community High School, where Rep. Omar presented them a framed copy of the Congressional Proclamation that she read during the proceedings of the 117th United States Congress last summer.

In addition to photos and the chance to meet their very own member of the House of Representatives, the girls performed a couple of their best routines for Rep. Omar, who took to social media to say that Coach Burnaugh and Dance City are proof that “when we give our youth the chance to shine, they will take the stage!”

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Notwithstanding their excitement, Burnaugh knows that the younger members of Dance City might not fully appreciate the magnitude of this moment. Still, she wants them to know that this historic achievement—which was born of their hard work, skill, and dedication—is “going to be on the books forever.

“This is something that their kids and their kids’ kids can look up someday,” she adds. “These girls from the North Side and their amazing accomplishments have been acknowledged in the Congressional Record. That means something. And we are so proud of them.”

Burnaugh also makes it a point to acknowledge Mauri Friestleben, the principal of North Community High School, who provides Dance City with the studio space to train during the school year.

“Mauri and the entire North High family are so giving, so generous to us,” she says. “They have been such a big part of our success, and they deserve recognition for all they have done for Dance City.”

The team is currently practicing for two local competitions this spring: the Showstoppers Dance Competition at the Minneapolis Convention Center in April, and Revolution Talent at Bloomington Kennedy High School in May. They will also compete in another national competition this fall in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dance City also continues to raise funds for the potentially life-changing opportunity to train at two of the most prestigious studios in the world—the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles.

For more information on how you can support Dance City, visit their GoFundMe page at bit.ly/DanceCityChamps .