Imagine: It’s game day and the stands are filled in Doak Cambell Stadium. Florida State University has a third down when suddenly the Marching Chiefs begin playing and 20 females in sparkling uniforms stand up and begin dancing excitedly.
Starting next football season, FSU fans can expect this sort of scenario at every home football game. Now home to a new majorette team, the Nolettes, FSU is the second predominately white institution to announce this sort of addition to their school within the past month. University of Southern California was the first institution to introduce a dance troupe.
Although FSU already has a majorette team called the Golden Girls, the two teams differ in that the Nolettes will take on a wider variety of dance styles including hip hop, bucking and jazz. This style of dance will mimic most majorette teams found on the campuses of historically Black colleges and universities.
The Nolettes plan to bring a breath of fresh air to campus, and co-captain Karen Toussaint says that takes nothing less than 100 percent effort from all members.
“We are hoping to showcase our talents and individuality around campus with our new ripples and dance pieces,” Toussaint said. “A dance team like the Nolettes is time consuming because we practice Monday, Wednesday and Friday for about three hours.”
Dedicating so much time to the organization, members are held to a high standard and are expected to always perform well, or be at risk of being benched for a performance. Second-year English student Jayda Hall says the Nolettes are just like any other team, a part of a dance company.
“We practiced the whole spring and summer semester last school year,” Hall said. “We just had second auditions for the team and accepted about 10 girls out of 30.”
Although the complete team won’t have their first debut until November, the students’ anticipation for the team is building. Third-year dance student Mackenzy Jordan says she is excited to see what everyone has to offer.
“I think it’s nice to have a majorette team because there are so many dance orgs, but we as Black women are underrepresented,” Jordan said. “I commend them because it takes a lot of dedication to do everything they’re doing.”
So far, the team has received an abundance of support and has plans on showcasing their skills as often as possible.
To find out more about the Nolettes, visit their Instagram page @fsu.nolettes.