If you look to the stands during breaks in Wichita State basketball games, you may see a group of similarly-dressed dancers blending styles of hip-hop and jazz dances. The group is composed of 12 girls who are primarily Black.
They’re a part of the Wichita State majorette team, named the Golden Heat, a group that began on campus that got its start in 2022. Denazhia Williams went through the process of creating the team and registering it as a recognized student organization (RSO) herself.
“My purpose of doing it was because I love to dance; I love to cheer, and I noticed that the cheer or the dance team (didn’t) have anyone that looked like me,” Williams said. “I wanted to create a space for our Black community so that they can be able to dance through our culture.”
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) majorette started in 1968 and has since spread to universities across the United States.
Majorette is a combination of different dance styles, including jazz, hip-hop, stepping and bucking.
The team started with just five members but has grown to 12 since it was founded. Williams mentioned that several of the girls on the team have not danced on majorette teams before.
Nakyia Pierce had similar reasons for joining the team as Williams did for creating it.
“A lot of those girls (on the dance and cheer teams) are trained from being 2 years old and up in technical and jazz, and I personally don’t have that qualification,” Pierce said. “I wanted to join a team that I knew I could shine on.”
The team works to create a safe environment for like-minded people of color, especially at a predominantly white institution (PWI).
“It’s kind of hard on a PWI campus to find people who have the same goals and same aspirations that you do,” Pierce said. “It’s typically an HBCU style of dance so we’re just trying to bring (majorette) culture to our campus and let people see it.”
Making it into the stands
It took Williams and her team a year to be able to gain access to games and dance in the stands. Currently, the team performs in the upper bowl of Charles Koch Arena near the band at men’s games and near the student section at women’s games.
“Everyone (in the athletic department) was on different paths,” Williams said. “I would communicate with the cheer coach and dance coaches and see how they felt about it. I would talk with the band director, and one would say yes and the other would say no, and then it was just athletics as a whole.”
Williams succeeded in getting her team in the stands by continuing to ask the athletic department, despite the repeated no’s.
“I push, push, push, push, push because I didn’t want to settle for a no,” Williams said.
Traditionally, majorette teams perform in the stands, but Williams would like to see her team on the floor during half-time.
Williams, a senior, is planning on becoming the adviser for the team next year when she graduates.
“I want this to be a legacy,” Williams said. “I want this to be something that sticks around for years because I don’t want them to think they have to go to HBCU to do majorette.”
