The Minnesota Association of Dance Teams (MADT) was originally an association made up of coaches and judges; however when the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) declared dance team to be a sponsored activity in 1997, MADT became strictly a coaches association.  The MSHSL conducted a short training session for judges in 1997 and 1998, but there was no organized way to contact the judges.  Host schools always had scheduled their own judges and new judges had few, if any, resources to break into judging.

The Judges Association of Minnesota Dance Teams (JAM) was established in 1999 as a direct response to a need for greater training and communication for Minnesota dance team judges when MSHSL declared dance team to be a League sponsored activity.  JAM was started with the goals of expanding and improving the quality of training and having a central point of contact for judges throughout the state.

Since then, JAM has evolved its services to include regular and post-season scheduling, mandatory annual training for all JAM members, a mentoring program, trial judging opportunities, coaches’ workshops and increased communication opportunities between its members, coaches, activities directors and the MSHSL.

JAM is non-profit association created for the betterment of the dance team community in Minnesota. All membership dues, income earned and grants received are invested back into the organization for education and awareness of the association.