Florida State University (FSU) has multiple dance teams and clubs, but they dance in specific styles and don’t stray far from them. The young women on the Nolettes wanted to dance in a way that reflected their culture; they wanted to express themselves in a way that no existing club offered. I found this story interesting, so I asked for an interview with their secretary, Sadé Robinson to learn more about why the team was created and what they hope to achieve. Robinson is a second year at FSU and majors in Psychology. Her main responsibilities are booking events for the team and collaborating with other organizations. She takes pride in keeping the team organized and being a founding member.
Her Campus (HC): What are the Nolettes?
Sadé Robinson (SR): The Nolettes are a majorette dance team that brings out confidence in women while actively engaging in a sisterhood. We incorporate dance styles such as hip-hop, afrobeat, contemporary and belly dance.
HC: When and why was this club created?
SR: The Nolettes were created in March 2022 to form a place for women of black culture to seek comfort in our dance styles. It was kind of hard to find the exact type of dance team for our dance style, so our president figured “why not create our own dance team?”
HC: What kind of dance do you perform?
SR: Our dance style consists of many styles formed into one. We use hip-hop, afrobeat, contemporary and belly dance. The moves we execute involve graceful movements using your whole body. We add in flexibility here and there, but we’re all about emphasizing the beauty of a woman.
HC: What makes The Nolettes different from other dance groups?
SR: There was a big conversation about a month ago about another majorette team of black women that danced for a predominantly white institution (PWI). We’re pretty much in the same position as them. Individuals feel like since our style of dance is mostly seen at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), then we shouldn’t be able to express ourselves in that same style of dance. Yes, we attend a prestigious PWI, but we would also like to have a place of familiarity where we can still engage in a dance style that the black community has set up.
HC: When do you practice, and for how long?
SR: We practice three days out of the week for three hours. When we have a performance, we may add a day the week before or the week of, but we try to be as flexible as we can seeing as our club consists of college students who have homework and jobs. We want to give our members a fair chance to participate, so we aim to be flexible when it comes to outside responsibilities and engagements.
HC: What criteria is needed to join the team?
SR: So first and foremost, in order to join the team, we ask you to have prior dance experience and a left or right split. You don’t necessarily have to be trained in majorette-style dance, but we prefer you to have dance experience whether it’s from school or a company. We are pretty fast-paced when it comes to learning, so someone without prior dance experience may have a hard time adjusting to our learning schedule. We also don’t discriminate by color, weight, shape, or height, as long as you can dance, we want you.
HC: What are some goals of the team?
SR: A goal that we do have is to perform in the stadium for football games. We will be performing for FSU’s Homecoming Live as well as Bridge the Gap amongst other events, but a long-term goal performance is to be able to perform alongside the Marching Chiefs. We also like to perform in campus events and would love to participate in local community events as well. We’d like to have a workshop one day where we can teach young girls who are willing to learn how to dance. We would also love for this to be a long-reigning club that is still standing even after our founding members have graduated and moved into our separate careers. We want to be able to come to see new members years later continuing our legacy as a majorette dance team that was able to continue in a place where others didn’t think we’d be able to.
HC: Do the Nolettes compete?
SR: Unfortunately, this year we will not be competing. In the future, that will definitely be an opportunity we would be glad to take up. It may not be to an extent of competing at UDA nationals, but local competitions are definitely something we would love to participate in.
HC: Where does your team get ideas for choreography?
SR: Our co-captain and vice-president and two dance coordinators come up with our choreography. Their process can be from watching videos of other majorette teams and not copying them but understanding more of what the dancing should be like. Sometimes you can turn on some music when we need choreography and let them freestyle a bit and some of our routines come from those mini-freestyle sessions.
Clearly, these women know what they want. They made a dance team based on what they saw was lacking here at FSU. These women are using positivity to express themselves through dance and empowering other women in their community at the same time. Definitely follow their socials to keep up with their success. On Instagram, you can find them @fsu.nolettes and check them out when they perform at Homecoming Live on Nov. 9.
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