For Rutgers University senior Faith Jackson, seeing the impact her dancing has on others gives her a sense of pride and appreciation.
“Dance is not just art. It’s not just a way of showing your creative style. It’s a storytelling art form. If someone can understand what I’m feeling just by watching my movement or understand the main purpose that I’m trying to set in my dancing, that’s honestly powerful,” said Jackson, co-founder of Thee Scarlet Divas, Rutgers‘ first all-Black majorette dance team.
Jackson, 22, of Orange, and former student, Millicent King, established the team in 2022.
A public health major, Jackson said that when she started at Rutgers-New Brunswick, she wanted to dance but didn’t feel connected to the styles that were already on campus.
“I honestly wanted to bring something different and rooted in the culture that I grew up with,” she said. “Rutgers was built by minorities, so it was only right that those cultures continue to live here.”
In 2024, Jackson contacted Todd Nichols, Rutgers’ director of university and athletic bands and the area head of conducting, and asked about collaborating with the university’s marching band to perform during the football game halftime show.
“We decided to brainstorm and come up with a way to celebrate them, amplify their mission and voice,” Nichols said.“We wanted it to be something where they were able to be seen and heard.“
Thee Scarlet Divas performed for the first time during the Scarlet Knights football team’s halftime show, on Sept. 6 at SHI Stadium in Piscataway in front of a crowd of over 45,000.
“The feedback was great. The crowd loved it,” Nichols said. “The members of Thee Scarlet Divas loved it. They were super excited and happy to be included and experience the game day atmosphere.”
Jackson said majorette dance is a high-energy, choreographed dance style that combines elements of African, modern, hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, and ballet.
“Majorette does come from the Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ band culture, but it’s much deeper than that. It’s more of just a way of storytelling,” Jackson said. “It’s just what you would call a melting pot of all these dance styles in one.”
Majorette dancing originated in 1968 at Alcorn State University, where the school’s Golden Girls became the first to perform at the Orange Blossom Classic annual college football game in Miami, according the the university’s website.
Today, majorette dance teams are entertainment staples at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and at athletic and non-athletic events.
Jackson said she and 13 other dancers make up the team, which practices three times a week and performs about three times each semester.
Danielle Messado, 22, of Woodbury, joined the team in 2024 after transferring from Rutgers-Camden to the New Brunswick campus.
“As a transfer student, I definitely struggled in finding my place in such a big school, and I really yearned for that sense of community and friendship,” said Messado, a senior pharmacy major.
About a week before the team hosted its auditions, Messado said she came across the team’s Instagram page and decided to audition.
“Not only did I come in and make new friends and meet so many people, but I really ended up leaving with a sisterhood and a family of girls that I can count on, and I know that I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said Messado, the team’s public relations chair.
The highlight for the team was its first half-time show at a football game last year.
Before that, Jackson said the team performed at the university’s annual Black Homecoming tailgate event and during other student affairs.
“Coming to Rutgers as a freshman, I really felt unseen and uncomfortable as a minority at a predominantly white institution,” she said. “Standing on that field as a senior showed me how far myself and this community have honestly come. It also proves that you can bring culture into an unfamiliar space when you have a support system that respects and understands that culture.”
Messado agreed, calling the half-time performance opportunity “deeply affirming.”
“There’s a pride in knowing that you’re stepping onto such a visible stage, not just as a dancer, but as a representation of an entire culture and style that’s rooted in Black history.”
“I felt a sense of purpose. It wasn’t just about putting on a show at that point. It was about showing visibility and pride in not only who we are as a group of ethnically diverse women, but also where we come from, where this dance style comes from, and what we as a group of people can give.”
The team’s next performance will be at the university’s women’s basketball game at 7 p.m., on Sunday, Jan. 28, at Jersey Mike’s Arena, 83 Rockafeller Road in Piscataway.
For more information, visit the team’s Instagram page.
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