High school dance teams join Super Bowl half time show

Hundreds of area metro-area high school dance team members shimmied along with Justin Timberlake during the Super Bowl halftime show. And even more remarkable, they managed to keep their participation under wraps.

Wearing black leggings and brightly-colored jackets, teams from the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Burnsville, Eastview in Apple Valley, Eden Prairie, Farmington, Hopkins, Lakeville North, Lakeville South, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, Prior Lake, Rockford, Spring Lake Park and Wayzata were among those included in the festivities at U.S. Bank Stadium Sunday night.

"There was huge secrecy," said John Millea, Minnesota State High School League spokesman. "Everybody kept a lid on it very nicely."

More teams may have been involved — there were hundreds of students in all — but he didn't have a list, he said.

He just found out about the teams' participation a week ago himself. The the Minnesota Association of Dance Teams likely worked with the teams' coaches to recruit dancers and coordinate the performance, Millea said.

Some of the dance teams also participated in the game in other ways. For example, many members of Eastview Lightning Dance Team helped hold the flag for the National Anthem.

Farmington Superintendent Jay Haugen said he discovered the Tiger Dance Team was performing just Sunday, when high school administrators and coaches started tweeting about it.

"I think it's not necessarily once in a lifetime, but a once-in-a generation," he said. "To get this chance, how special is that?"

Erin Adler • 612-673-1781