HBCU style will hit Wildkats’ games at Memorial Gym this winter

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When Caprisha Ware came to Kokomo with her young daughter in 2018, she went searching for community activities and organizations she could join, specifically those that might offer something to her family.

She really wanted to get her daughter into dancing, but the dancing style she was looking for didn’t exist locally. Ware is a big fan of the majorette style of dancing popularized by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the 1960s. When she discovered no one was practicing that style, she decided to go looking for others who might share her interest.

Ware connected with majorette dancing coach Nicole Mitchell and fellow dancer Brandy Walker, and together they formed the Carver Community Center’s first majorette dance team.

“I had met Nicole through work, and she had told me that she used to be a majorette,” said Ware, who serves as associate director of the team. “I was like, ‘You should make your own dance team out here.’ But before we met, they had something in the plans of making a dance team.”

Mitchell, who is the head coach, was happy to have Ware’s interest. She and Walker, indeed, shared the desire to create a team.

“When I moved here in 2022 that's when I met Brandy, and I asked her if there was dance team out here,” said Mitchell. “She was like, no. So, I was like, ‘Can we start a team?’”

With the three of them together, the ladies got organized and approach Carver Community Center director J.C. Barnett III about partnering with the facility. They were met with an enthusiastic yes. Three months later, the Carver Majorette Dance Team has 12 members who practice three hours a day, three days a week to learn routines and prepare to perform.

Mitchell explained that the girls will learn as many as 50 different “stands,” which are routines that involve synchronicity, a variety of techniques, and plenty of confidence or swagger. Stands are the primary dance styles used in head-to-head dance team battles. A stand battle might include two or three stands strung together as a creative routine.

The dancers also are learning parade routines and a field show which can be performed during halftime at football or basketball games.

“This is real life get down,” said Mitchell.

The first big challenge the dance team faced was a lack of familiarity. None of the girls who attended the first call-out meeting had much experience. Only two of them had ever practiced the majorette style. That changed quickly.

“Now, everybody getting on, they catching on,” said Mitchell. “They look like majorettes. They got a little bit of work to do, still, but we getting there.”

The girls currently perform during halftime of basketball games at Carver Center, but they were recently informed that they will get to perform at a few Kokomo High School games this winter.

They also intend to perform an open show sometime in December, all in preparation for the team’s true goal – national competition.

Majorette Dance is actually an AAU-sanctioned national sport with a variety of competition categories, from Poms to hip-hop to bleacher and stand battles. Mitchell intends to put Kokomo on the map in the majorette world.

“I'm trying to get it to where we go and battle,” said Mitchell. “But I want it where some battles would be in Kokomo, where some of the teams come down here and battle and give Kokomo a chance. I'm trying to put Kokomo out there.”

It all sounds and works exactly as Walker had hoped when the three ladies got together to form the team.

“I've always wanted to do dance,” said Ware. “I've seen this on TV and always wanted to do it. We never had that here. That's what I missed out on, so it's a joy for me to help Nicole do this.”

As competitions loom closer, the team will hold a final round of tryouts on Oct. 15-17 at the Carver Center, beginning at 4 p.m. each afternoon. The cost of the tryout is $5. Girls in grades 5-12 who have some dance experience may participate. They are asked to come dressed in a white top, black bottoms, and tennis shoes.

For those who miss this try-out, unfortunately the season will be closed to additional dancers. The 2025-26 season will have try-outs next August. Beginners will be accepted at that time.