For 100 years, the Radio Metropolis Rockettes have dazzled audiences from around the globe with their impeccable precision, glittering sequin costumes, and well-known excessive kicks. However for 15 seasons, Jennifer Jones did one thing much more radical than grasp the choreography — she broke a 62-year barrier as the long-lasting troupe’s first Black Rockette.
The 58-year-old New Jersey native by no means got down to make historical past, nevertheless. When she moved to New York Metropolis within the mid-Eighties, Broadway was the dream.
“My mother and father took my sister and me to Broadway exhibits rising up. That was the dream,” she informed The Montclair Lady in a current interview. “I needed to be Stephanie Mills in “The Wiz.’”
So when she first got here throughout a Rockette audition advert, she almost ignored it. A pal needed to persuade her to even think about it.
“I didn’t actually know who they had been or what they did. My pal stated, ‘Jennifer, you must audition for the Rockettes. You’d make an excellent Rockette,’” she recalled. She was nonetheless “inexperienced,” she stated, and thought it will be a helpful strategy to get comfy auditioning for Broadway — her actual objective.
Jones auditioned, obtained a callback, after which heard nothing for months. Then got here an surprising cellphone name from Violet Holmes, a longtime dancer and choreographer for the Rockettes, inviting her to carry out with them in the course of the Tremendous Bowl XXII halftime present. Nervous and not sure whether or not this meant she’d been employed or just introduced in briefly, she initially stated she would wish to name her again. Lower than half an hour later, she referred to as Holmes again and accepted. Days later, whereas watching the information, she realized the Rockettes had employed their first Black dancer because the troupe’s founding in 1925.
“I actually thought, ‘Huh, I’m wondering who that’s,’” she joked. Her mom referred to as quickly after, asking if it may be her. Ultimately, it grew to become clear: at age 20, in 1987, Jennifer Jones had formally been employed — and was rapidly ushered into media coaching as the corporate ready to introduce its first Black Rockette to the world.
“I used to be all of a sudden being skilled as a spokesperson and position mannequin, however I didn’t even totally perceive the legacy or the historical past I had simply walked into,” she stated.
Regardless of becoming a member of a long time after the Civil Rights Motion — and at a time when Black tradition was reshaping music, tv, and movie — her arrival was met with combined reactions.
“Anytime there’s change, there’s resistance,” she defined. “Some folks had been welcoming, and a few weren’t. A few of the girls on the road, some folks in administration… not everybody was thrilled to have a Black lady there. I used to be scrutinized so much, consistently corrected, and typically laughed at.”
The strain typically made her query whether or not she belonged. However she leaned on the dream she had held since childhood.
“My dream was to bop on an excellent stage and stroll out that backstage door. I had needed that since I used to be 9. Nobody was allowed to take that away from me. I obtained to bop on the identical stage, put on the identical costumes, and stroll out of the identical backstage door as everybody else. That’s what I held onto,” stated Jones.
Jones went on to bop 15 seasons — a tenure that cemented her as a trailblazer and one which shifted what the Rockettes might seem like. Her presence opened the door for a sluggish however regular change within the line. Since her groundbreaking debut, extra Black dancers have joined the corporate, together with pioneers like Danielle Jolie Dale-Hancock, who was the second, Danelle Morgan, who grew to become one of many troupe’s longest-tenured Black Rockettes, and the rising variety of Black dancers who now grace the annual Christmas Spectacular — a visual shift from the as soon as rigidly uniform, all-white line Jones entered.
In the present day, Jones lives in New Jersey along with her husband, Jeff DeBarbieri, and has chronicled her life and legacy in her memoir, “Turning into Spectacular,” launched earlier this 12 months. In a current Instagram publish, the dancer celebrated the Rockettes’ one hundredth anniversary and supplied additional perception into her lasting legacy.
“I take nice satisfaction in being a part of this custom and ushering in a brand new period for Black girls to bop on the road,” she wrote. “My historic debut at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor was pushed by my sheer love for dance, and it’s a dream come true to be the primary Black dancer to kick as a Rockette on this iconic stage. A heartfelt shout-out to all of the trailblazers who’ve graced this stage, together with Setsuko Maruhashi, the primary Asian Rockette, and Lillian Colon, the primary Latina Rockette. Collectively, we’re making historical past! Right here’s to persevering with the legacy, breaking boundaries, and celebrating variety in dance. Let’s maintain dancing into the longer term!”
