A women’s country line dancing team from the state of Washington has claimed that they were recently told their American flag outfits made some attendees at a Seattle dance event feel “triggered and unsafe.” The dance team was told they would not be allowed to wear the American flag-themed outfits for their dance performance, prompting the team to cancel their performance.
According to a Facebook statement by the Borderline Dance Team, the women’s country line dancing team was scheduled to perform at the Emerald City Hoedown in Seattle, Washington, last Saturday. The group said performances like the Emerald City Hoedown require dance teams to “work their boots off” and that the dancers were excited about the performance.
“Unfortunately, what our team was met with upon arrival was that our flag tops were offensive to some of the convention goers,” the Borderline Dance Team wrote. “There was a small group that felt ‘triggered and unsafe’. They had several claims for this reasoning. Mostly associated with the situation in Palestine and the Trans community in America.”
A picture shared on X, formerly Twitter, by media personality Ari Hoffman shows the Borderline Dance Team in their American flag-themed outfits.
The Borderline Dance Team said they were initially warned that they would be “booed” or “yelled at” and that the offended attendees “would walk out.” Despite the warning, the dance team explained they were not deterred.
However, the Borderline Dance Team claimed they were later given an “ultimatum,” demanding that the dancers remove their American flag shirts and perform in regular clothes, perform in shirts provided by the convention, or not perform at Saturday’s event.
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The Borderline Dance Team’s post explained that the dancers unanimously decided not to perform at the event. According to the post, the West Coast Country Heat dance team also decided not to perform since they also “proudly don the colors of our country in the same spirit of patriotism that we do. Both of our teams stood in solidarity and put actions to words.”
According to The Post Millennial, the Emerald City Hoedown was organized by the Rain Country Dance Association, which is a non-profit LGBTQ+ dance association based in the Pacific Northwest.
The LGBTQ+ group addressed concerns regarding the controversy in a Facebook post, saying, “Hi y’all! After the close of another amazing Hoedown weekend, we know there are some questions about the Saturday night performance line-up. We appreciate y’all giving us the time to clear up misunderstandings and address the situation with people directly involved. We will be posting a follow-up statement later this week once we are able to have those conversations.”
