A South Side dance team is calling on the community for help after losing its longtime practice space right before a huge out-of-state competition. 

They had to use its competition funds to find a temporary studio, which put their upcoming trip in jeopardy.

The Empiire Dance Institute has since moved its practice into a temporary studio inside an art gallery, with the artwork cleared out to help the children.

They'll be practicing for a huge competition in hopes of adding to the plenty they've won before. 

"Man, this was so much energy. These kids came out, and they tore this place up," Teneshia Jackson said. 

"We won the entire show," said Latisha Waters."The whole gym, though, was like standing up for us, you know."

Waters is the founder of the dance company, and Jackson is the board president.

The team travels all over for competitions, hosts a summer camp, and performs every year at the Bud Billiken Parade. 

Next week, coaches hope to bring 52 kids to Atlanta for Warzone—a national dance competition. But they need some help.

The dance company was forced out of its long-time dance studio after an issue with the landlord and foreclosure on the property. They had to use its competition funds to secure a new practice space.

"All the money they were putting for Atlanta now had to go to them being able to go somewhere else, storage, paying people to remove things from the old studio because they literally had no time to move," Jackson said.

The dance team still needs to raise about $6,000 to take every kid to the competition next week. They've set up a GoFundMe for those who want to support.

In the meantime, they'll be practicing with every intention of making it to the competition in Atlanta.