Alone With My Thoughts: LSU Tiger Girls
I’m Shelby, I live on my own, and I am constantly walking around my apartment talking to myself. I’ve decided it’s time to talk to all of you. Welcome to Alone With My Thoughts, a series of my completely unsolicited opinions on pop culture, media, and life.
If you’ve been on TikTok any time in the las couple of weeks, you’ve probably heard Ciara’s “Like a Boy” on repeat. And you’ve also probably heard “LSU Tiger Girls” thrown around here and there. This is no coincidence. Now if you’re anything like me, it took you a minute to put the pieces together, but it’s ok, we got there.
The Tiger Girls are the collegiate dance team at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The team dancers for a number of sports teams at the university, and have even danced at SEC and NCAA championships. For some bizarre reason, the NCAA doesn’t recognize dance as a sport. I danced for years as a kid and let me tell you - it’s a sport. But LSU still requires the Tiger Girls to abide by student athlete guidelines. So you’d think this means they also have the privileges and opportunities of student athletes, right? I think you can see where this is going.
The team requested to go to the Universal Dance Association’s College Nationals in 2021, they were denied by the university. Ridiculous, as they’d participated every year. The school blamed their refusal on COVID-19 -which like, in Louisiana…really? - but still allowed other teams *cough* MEN’S teams to compete in their national championships. But here’s the kicker. The Tiger Girls were still expected to cheer on other sports teams. No COVID concerns there, LSU?
LSU alumna and Tiger Girls’ assistant choreographer Samantha McFadden started a campaign to #LetThemCompete. She says that “telling these kids they can’t compete is confusing and degrading them in comparison to other athletes, while they are still held to the same standards. Taking away this opportunity to compete and grow in their craft as dedicated athletes minimizes this program to only beautiful girls who stand on the sidelines supporting other athletes, while never getting the opportunity to compete themselves. They are so much more than that.” Take a minute to watch her whole video here. Unfortunately it was too late for the team to take part in the 2021 Nationals. But these girls came back with a vengeance for the 2022 competition.
Choreographers Carsen Rowe and Samantha McFadden made the risky decision to use only one track for the team’s performance. The track? “Like A Boy”. While this song transports a lot of us back to the golden age of music - the early 200s - it has a bigger meaning in this context. The lyrics literally say “Would the rules change up or would they still apply…sometimes I wish I could act like a boy.” I mean, mic drop.
The Tiger Girls’ “Like A Boy” routine ranked first after their semi-final performance at the UDA Nationals this January. As. They. Should. But very quickly, the team saw a much greater impact of their actions. This TikTok of the other competitors blasting “Like A Boy” for the Tiger Girls went viral, and soon enough, the internet was on board. The song has over 145,000 videos under it on TikTok, filled with people learning the dance and advocating for the team.
And can we talk about how insane it is that I learned about this whole thing from TikTok? That app truly has the power to make real change. Think about how many young dancers are going to be inspired by these women. How many young girls can look up to them knowing that one day they can achieve the same feats. I love this story. BRB gonna go attempt to learn the dance.