Wisconsin Teen Fights To Compete With Girls Dance Line In Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Wisconsin teenager is challenging Minnesota rules in order to compete on the girls dance team.

Fifteen-year-old Kaiden Johnson is a sophomore at Superior High School. Wisconsin rules allow him to compete with the girls dance line, but the Minnesota High School League does not.

That means Kaiden isn't allowed to participate when his dance team competes against Minnesota schools, or when Minnesota judges are involved.

"I didn't care what the song was, I was busting a move to it," Kaiden said.

Kaiden's mom swears he was dancing before he was walking.

"It didn't matter if it was classical, or rock 'n roll, or country. He definitely enjoyed and loved music," Kaiden's mom Miranda Lynch said.

So it was only natural that Kaiden would take dance lessons and eventually get involved in competitions.

"It's so much fun because you go out there and kill it," Kaiden said.

In 8th grade, Kaiden tried out and made the Superior girls dance team.

"They were super supportive. I actually danced at studios with a couple of them before," Kaiden said.

The team welcomed Kaiden, Wisconsin rules allowed it, but it was the high school league in a neighboring state that threw him off his rhythm.

"We're all at the school and he came running over and said, 'Hey mom, I can't dance.' I was astonished," Miranda said.

Last December, Kaiden was set to perform in his first dance line competition in his school's gymnasium. Because Superior often competes against Minnesota teams across the border, Minnesota judges were there, and were going by their interpretation of Title IX rules -- which don't allow boys to compete on girls teams.

"I felt heartbroken. I had all these mixed emotions. I was angry. I was upset," Kaiden said.

"In all our years of dance I'd never heard boys weren't allowed to dance," Miranda said.

A California law firm heard about Kaiden's dancing dilemma. They reached out to the Minnesota State High School League and asked them to reverse their Title IX ruling, calling it discriminatory and contradictory.

"The first line here says prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex," Miranda said.

The High School League has until Nov. 3 to respond. If they don't, Kaiden's family plans to proceed with a lawsuit. In the meantime, he plans on staying in step with his dance team even if he can't compete.

"I'm not the only boy who wants to dance at the high school level. And if this gets changed I want to represent the school for the next two years," Kaiden said.

We reached out to Minnesota State High School League athletic director Dave Stead, but he did not respond. Attorneys say right now Minnesota's Title IX applies anywhere in Wisconsin where a Minnesota judge or team are involved.