Rockets had no black dance until 1987 – this woman changed it

She joined the kickline and broke the color barrier.

In 1988, 19-year-old Jennifer Jones became the first black rocket when she danced with the iconic group for the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

â € œi was was magic, â € said Jones, to get the field while Checker Chubby played the piano. “I just felt like I was supposed to be there.â €

But being a pioneer was not easy, as Jones, now 56 years old, details in her new memory, â € œBecoming spectacular: Resistance rhythm from the first African -American Rocket (Amistad, now).

“The technique was not to come out,” Bellville, Native New Jersey for The Post, said. â € and as a black woman, I could

When Jones appeared in the 1987 Rockets audition, she almost left after seeing the women’s line wrapped around the music hall.

“They knew how to wear their hair and makeup, and they just joined so well,” she said. â € œ I was very scared. But I was ready to get out of the line, and a voice inside me said, ‘Stay’. â € ¦ was an intestinal instinct.â €

She realized she was the first black performer in Rockette’s 63-year-old history, while she heard about her match on Channel 4 Evening News a few days after securing the place. “I was so naive,” she said.

Jones felt unique pressure to nail the steps, all the time doing endless interviews – a lot about the deception of some of the other girls – for renting her story.

Not everyone was cheering for him.

Russell Marcer, who founded Rockets in 1925, â wanted women in his Korea line to look uniform and had strict demand for height and weight. Â he once stopped a dance a dance a ballerina girl.â â â €

“I knew he was not happy about it,” Jones said about her union in the group.

Legendary choreographer Violet Holmes, who led Rockets from 1971 to 1992, was not excited either.

She once noted that the dances were needed to be images of another’s images, and said – € € or two black girls would be distracted. You will lose the accuracy line.â €

But the rockets were under pressure to diversify. NAACP called the organization in 1982, asking that it hires color performers. In 1985, the first Asian ballerina, Setsuko Maruhashi, joined the line.

In Jones’ first test, Holmes – who warned Jones she would teach her any of the movements in advance – ”

When Jones arrived at San Diego for Super Bowl, the PR leader called him to a meeting. â € œNobody takes care of you. No one is interested in your story. “You are old news. You should consider yourself even lucky to be here too,” she told her.

Words her words fell on my head for years, “Jones said.” I trusted her. “

She continued to go, â despite battles. Once, as she changed during a spectacular Christmas show, a white dancer hit her to violate her space.

Another time, Jones looked at disbelief while a colleague donated in the black backstory, painting her darkest and darker skin and her friends laughed. â € œ you are funny, â € € € € € € € € € girl girl.

At one point, Jones asked if she could wear tanga that matched her skin tone. The costumes flew into a rage.

â € œke when there is a difference, there is resistance, â € said Jones. â € œ but I have brought out in a new era.â €

After its fourth or fifth year in line, Rockets hired a second black dance, then another and another. Eventually, they got tights that match the tone of their skin.

In 2001, Jones joined the original cast of the resurrection of the street œ42nd, which continued to win a tone. She left Rockettes next year.

The ups and downs followed. When the 42nd road closed in 2005, Jones included floors in Jazz at Lincoln Center for Cash. She lost her home during the Mortgage Crisis in 2008. In 2018, she was diagnosed with colon cancer.

Now retired, Jones has lived without cancer with her husband for four years in New Jersey. She has two adult children – Zachary and Isabella – and is a great dancer at weddings.

It makes a point to see spectacular Christmas almost every year.

“

It took her decades to feel safe enough to tell her story.

History € History The history of making is rarely felt like it at the moment, â € she writes in her book. “We want to believe that every” first “we need to know the journey they are starting to start [but] The former are people who just want to do what they want.â €