Prior Lake women danced at the Super Bowl 26 years ago. On Sunday, their daughters did, too.

Prior Lake American

In 1992, singer Gloria Estefan took the stage during the Super Bowl 26 halftime show at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.

The theme of the show was “Winter Magic,” an attempt to embrace the cold in a similar manner to “Bold North.” Olympic champions Dorothy Hamill and Brian Boitano were brought on as guests. Dancers galloped around the stages in wintry getup.

Prior Lake resident Andhra Rusk Lehrer was one of these dancers, just 22 years old at the time.

In 2018, pop star Justin Timberlake took the stage during the Super Bowl 52 halftime show at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

One of the dancers was Prior Lake High School student Mariana Lehrer, performing on the national stage as her mother had 26 years prior.

Andhra auditioned for the 1992 show and was chosen, along with other dancers from the area.

“I was a showgirl and so we had these really cool costumes like the Vegas showgirls do, with snowflakes and icicles,” Andhra said. “It was just such an honor to be a part of it.”

Andhra passed along her love of dance to daughters Mariana and Britain. Britain is a member of the Drake University Dance Team in Des Moines, Iowa. Mariana is a member of the Prior Lake High School Dance Team.

“We share a love for dance in my family,” Andhra said. “Dance is a passion we all share.”

The Prior Lake High School team, along with other teams from around the state, including the Burnsville Blazettes Dance Team, were asked to perform with Timberlake and rehearsed with the pop star for months.

“It was a top secret thing,” Andhra said. “We couldn’t say anything.”

The NFL contacted the team in December with the opportunity and to work out the details of the performance.

“The best part was when (Timberlake) talked into our earpieces and told us it was an honor to perform with all of us,” Prior Lake High School student Emma Gordon said in a news release from the district.

The high-energy performance by Timberlake featured some of his biggest hits, including “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and “Suit & Tie.” The performance also featured a special tribute to Minnesota’s own late superstar, Prince.

During the performance, Mariana focused on dancing. At home, Mariana’s friends and family focused on finding her in the crowd.

“We were glued to the screen and just watching every move,” Andhra said. “She’s really tall ... and she has a really great vertical jump and in a lot of the shots you can see her because she’s so tall.”

The family wasn’t the only one to share a similar experience across generations; Renee Letourneau and her 16-year-old daughter, Lacey, did, too.

Renee remembers driving to another city to audition for the 1992 Super Bowl halftime show. She was an Eagan High School student and 16 years old at the time and the auditions were open to everyone. She had to pass a couple rounds of auditions and she was only one of five dancers from her school to make the cut.

“It was super exciting,” Renee said, adding there were no buses to easily transport dancers to the venue for rehearsal like there were this year — she had to find her own way there. “I loved it. We had much more formal-type costumes.”

Renee said when she first heard the Super Bowl would be returning to Minnesota, she quickly turned to her computer and started searching for information about dance tryouts with the hopes her own daughter could have a similar experience. But nothing turned up.

“Eventually, I just figured, ‘Oh well, maybe they don’t do it anymore,’” she said.

Renee was later proved wrong when her daughter’s dance team was invited to perform — both Renee and Lacey had to sign a confidentiality agreement promising to keep the performance a secret until the big game.

Many of the same emotions that flooded a young Renee in 1992 came back in 2018 as her own daughter took the stage in the national spotlight.

“I told her before she went to perform, ‘It’s going to go by so fast. It’s going to be so different once the stadium has all the people in it. Really take it all in,’” Renee said. “She absolutely loved it but she did say that it went so fast.”

About 200 million viewers tuned into the performance from across the nation. All eyes were on Minnesota.

“This was a fantastic opportunity for students,” Prior Lake High School Activities Director Russ Reetz said in a news release. “It shows how great our students are and how well they can hold themselves creatively and professionally.”

Though it’s not an experience many can claim, dancing in a Super Bowl halftime show is now one that a handful of dancers from the team share with mothers, aunts and other relatives.

“It is a once, maybe twice in a lifetime experience,” Andhra said. “If I’m blessed, maybe I’ll be able to watch my future little granddaughter dance in the halftime show 26 years from now, too.”

Rachel Minske contributed to this report.