She joined the kickline and broke the colour barrier.
In 1988, 19-year-old Jennifer Jones became the primary black Rockette when she danced with the enduring group for the Super Bowl halftime show.
“It was magic,” said Jones, of taking the sector as Chubby Checker played the piano. “I just felt like I used to be speculated to be there.”
But being a pioneer wasn’t easy, as Jones, now 56, details in her recent memoir, “Becoming Spectacular: The Rhythm of Resilience from the First African American Rockette” (Amistad, out now).
“The technique was not to face out,” the Bellville, Recent Jersey native told The Post. “And as a black woman, I couldn’t help but stand out.”
When Jones showed up on the Rockettes audition in 1987, she almost left after seeing the road of ladies wrapped across the music hall.
“They knew wear their hair and their makeup, they usually were just put together so well,” she said. “I used to be very intimidated. But I used to be nearly to step out of the road, and a voice inside me said, ‘Stay.’ … It was a gut instinct.”
She didn’t realize she was the primary black performer within the Rockette’s 63-year history until she heard about her appointment on the Channel 4 Evening News a couple of days after securing the spot. “I used to be so naive,” she said.
Jones felt unique pressure to nail the steps, all of the while doing countless interviews — much to the chagrin of among the other girls — about her historic hire.
Not everyone was cheering for her.
Russell Markert, who founded the Rockettes in 1925, wanted the women in his chorus line to look uniform and had strict height and weight requirements. He once forbade a dancer from tanning because he apprehensive it could make her appear like a “coloured girl.”
“I knew he wasn’t joyful about it,” Jones said of her joining the group.
Legendary choreographer Violet Holmes, who led the Rockettes from 1971 to 1992, wasn’t thrilled either.
She once remarked that the dancers needed to be “mirror images” of one other, and said “One or two black girls would distract. You’ll lose the road of precision.”
However the Rockettes were under pressure to diversify. The NAACP called out the organization in 1982, demanding that it hire performers of color. In 1985, the primary Asian dancer, Setsuko Maruhashi, joined the road.
At Jones’ first rehearsal, Holmes — who warned Jones she wouldn’t be teaching her any of the moves prematurely — berated her in front of a TV news crew when she couldn’t execute a mix.
When Jones arrived in San Diego for the Super Bowl, the top of PR called her into a gathering. “No person cares about you. No person cares about your story. … You’re old news. You must consider yourself even lucky to even be here,” she told her.
“Her words rang in my head for years,” Jones said. “I believed her.”
She kept going, despite the struggles. Once, while changing during a performance of the Christmas Spectacular, a white dancer hit her for encroaching on her space.
One other time, Jones watched in disbelief as a colleague donned blackface backstage, painting her skin darker and darker and her friends laughed. “You’re hilarious,” one other girl said.
At one point, Jones asked if she could wear tights that matched her skin tone. The costumer flew right into a rage.
Recent York Post
“Each time there’s change, there’s resistance,” Jones said. “But I ushered in a recent era.”
After her fourth or fifth yr on the road, the Rockettes hired a second black dancer, then one other, and one other. Eventually, they got tights that matched their skin tone.
In 2001, Jones joined the unique forged of the revival of “forty second Street,” which went on to win a Tony. She quit the Rockettes the next yr.
Ups and downs followed. When “forty second Street” closed in 2005, Jones swept floors at Jazz at Lincoln Center for money. She lost her home in the course of the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. In 2018, she was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Now retired, Jones lives cancer-free together with her husband of 4 years in Recent Jersey. She has two adult children — Zachary and Isabella — and is “an incredible dancer at weddings.”
She makes some extent of seeing the Christmas Spectacular nearly every yr.
“I’m a part of the Rockettes of Color Alumni, so there’s a recent Rockette legacy that I’m an element of,” she said.
It’s taken her many years to feel confident enough to inform her story.
“Making history rarely seems like it within the moment,” she writes in her book. “We wish to consider that any ‘first’ must know the journey they’re embarking on … [but] Firsts are individuals who simply need to do what they love.”
She joined the kickline and broke the colour barrier.
In 1988, 19-year-old Jennifer Jones became the primary black Rockette when she danced with the enduring group for the Super Bowl halftime show.
“It was magic,” said Jones, of taking the sector as Chubby Checker played the piano. “I just felt like I used to be speculated to be there.”
But being a pioneer wasn’t easy, as Jones, now 56, details in her recent memoir, “Becoming Spectacular: The Rhythm of Resilience from the First African American Rockette” (Amistad, out now).
“The technique was not to face out,” the Bellville, Recent Jersey native told The Post. “And as a black woman, I couldn’t help but stand out.”
When Jones showed up on the Rockettes audition in 1987, she almost left after seeing the road of ladies wrapped across the music hall.
“They knew wear their hair and their makeup, they usually were just put together so well,” she said. “I used to be very intimidated. But I used to be nearly to step out of the road, and a voice inside me said, ‘Stay.’ … It was a gut instinct.”
She didn’t realize she was the primary black performer within the Rockette’s 63-year history until she heard about her appointment on the Channel 4 Evening News a couple of days after securing the spot. “I used to be so naive,” she said.
Jones felt unique pressure to nail the steps, all of the while doing countless interviews — much to the chagrin of among the other girls — about her historic hire.
Not everyone was cheering for her.
Russell Markert, who founded the Rockettes in 1925, wanted the women in his chorus line to look uniform and had strict height and weight requirements. He once forbade a dancer from tanning because he apprehensive it could make her appear like a “coloured girl.”
“I knew he wasn’t joyful about it,” Jones said of her joining the group.
Legendary choreographer Violet Holmes, who led the Rockettes from 1971 to 1992, wasn’t thrilled either.
She once remarked that the dancers needed to be “mirror images” of one other, and said “One or two black girls would distract. You’ll lose the road of precision.”
However the Rockettes were under pressure to diversify. The NAACP called out the organization in 1982, demanding that it hire performers of color. In 1985, the primary Asian dancer, Setsuko Maruhashi, joined the road.
At Jones’ first rehearsal, Holmes — who warned Jones she wouldn’t be teaching her any of the moves prematurely — berated her in front of a TV news crew when she couldn’t execute a mix.
When Jones arrived in San Diego for the Super Bowl, the top of PR called her into a gathering. “No person cares about you. No person cares about your story. … You’re old news. You must consider yourself even lucky to even be here,” she told her.
“Her words rang in my head for years,” Jones said. “I believed her.”
She kept going, despite the struggles. Once, while changing during a performance of the Christmas Spectacular, a white dancer hit her for encroaching on her space.
One other time, Jones watched in disbelief as a colleague donned blackface backstage, painting her skin darker and darker and her friends laughed. “You’re hilarious,” one other girl said.
At one point, Jones asked if she could wear tights that matched her skin tone. The costumer flew right into a rage.
Recent York Post
“Each time there’s change, there’s resistance,” Jones said. “But I ushered in a recent era.”
After her fourth or fifth yr on the road, the Rockettes hired a second black dancer, then one other, and one other. Eventually, they got tights that matched their skin tone.
In 2001, Jones joined the unique forged of the revival of “forty second Street,” which went on to win a Tony. She quit the Rockettes the next yr.
Ups and downs followed. When “forty second Street” closed in 2005, Jones swept floors at Jazz at Lincoln Center for money. She lost her home in the course of the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. In 2018, she was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Now retired, Jones lives cancer-free together with her husband of 4 years in Recent Jersey. She has two adult children — Zachary and Isabella — and is “an incredible dancer at weddings.”
She makes some extent of seeing the Christmas Spectacular nearly every yr.
“I’m a part of the Rockettes of Color Alumni, so there’s a recent Rockette legacy that I’m an element of,” she said.
It’s taken her many years to feel confident enough to inform her story.
“Making history rarely seems like it within the moment,” she writes in her book. “We wish to consider that any ‘first’ must know the journey they’re embarking on … [but] Firsts are individuals who simply need to do what they love.”
