The Southern University Dancing Dolls are both graceful and beautiful, but there is much more to them than what meets the eye.
It is not easy to perform a routine that requires a large amount of energy to such a fast paced selection provided by the marching band.
Talent is certainly a plus and all six ladies demonstrate this characteristic with seemingly the greatest of ease.
Requirements are definitely enforced on the squad. Not only must a young lady be beautiful and swift to learn, but she must be properly trained in this area.
“Really, the only requirements that we have are ballet, tap and jazz. They must have approximately two years of that,” said Monique Morgan, Dancing Doll sponsor.
The dazzling dolls’ lives are not limited only to the field.
Believe it or not, they are regular everyday people.
However, their social life is significantly lacking because of their passion.
They deal with a lot of absurd situations just because of the position they hold.
The most common problem they face is with the some members of the female student body.
Other girls seem to be intimidated or even jealous.
“Once, my roommate stole my glove and some other things that I needed in order to perform and I was like ‘why would she do that,’” said Synae Brown, a senior computer science major from Atlanta and captain of the Dancing Doll squad.
Surely there have been rumors spread about the tryout process, the girls’representation of the university and several other issues that are used to demean the dancers. The tryout process alone is a big part of the misconception about them.
“I think a lot of girls are intimidated because they see us on television, we’re supposed to make it look easy, but when they come and see that we actually dance, they become intimidate. Because the experience is really needed here,” said Morgan.
Girls often complain about the lack of variety of body figures and skin tones on the field at halftime.
The fact that all the girls on the squad are fair-skinned with lengthy hair is also very questionable, but should complaints be made without knowing the facts?
“We had about 70 applications. Tryouts came and only about 30 girls showed up. We want to give everyone the opportunity to be a part, but we cannot do that if no one comes to tryout,” said Morgan.
“It just so happened that way this year. All of the girls have very long hair, but we didn’t necessarily choose for it to be that way. No one makes a big deal about Morris Brown’s girls being all dark skinned with short hair and no one says anything about Jackson State’s girls being thick, but everyone makes a big deal about Southern’s light skin and long hair. If anyone of these girls tried out at those schools, they wouldn’t make it, and if a Jackson State girl came here, she probably wouldn’t make it. We have stipulations,” said Brown.
Also, there is the classic question of, are they hand picked?
Well, it turns out that Dr. Isaac Greggs, Southern University’s Band Director makes the final decision.
Look for the Dancing Dolls on the field at halftime tomorrow.
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