Majorette dance is dancing in groups so called formation dance form. Main characteristics of majorette dance is synchronisation and step by beat what means majorettes are dancing one step on one beat.

 

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MAJORETTE DANCE

There are no credible records of the beginnings of the majorette dance expression, but the three most probable theories will be mentioned. Today it is considered very likely that the majorettes stem from the 18th century French drum majors.

 

THE SWISS FLAG THROWERS AS THE FORERUNNERS OF THE MAJORETTES

As one of the theories has it, the majorettes come from the Swiss “flag throwers”. These were standard-bearers who, instead of the usual way of bearing a flag, would do simple figures with their spears, such as twirling, waving, swinging, turning, throwing, and so on. According to this version, it was the Dutch seamen who made this way of flag parade known in the world. Later on, a special term, ‘bandieratori,’ caught on, and today they are one of the main attractions of carnivals and other festivals in Western Europe. Doing acrobatics with one or several replicas of medieval flags while in the attire of a page from these times is quite common for this dance expression. To the sound of music coming from an orchestra or percussion, the performers throw their flags 10 or more meters in the air and rotate them around their arms and other parts of the body. To this day this dance expression has a lot in common with the majorettes (rolls, rotations, figure 8, traditional uniforms, music), which only supports this theory.

 

THE MAJORETTES AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE DRUM MAJOR

The French version is even more credible. According to this theory, the beginning of the majorettes lies in the figure of the conductor of the military orchestra, or rather, the marching band. In order to be seen, the conductor had to have a long mace, even up to 2 meters, and it was specially ornamented. It is worth to emphasis that this mace looked a lot like today’s majorette batons (the rubber cone at the end is identical to the classic head of the conductor’s mace). It did not take long to realize that the conductor, as the band played, could point the direction the orchestra needed to take, and could at the same time perform various figures, including juggling. Thus several figures developed, from the simple change of direction or angle of the mace, to flipping or throwing the mace. Until the mid-twenties of the twentieth century the leaders of the groups of majorettes used their baton in the same manner, to signal the direction the formation needed to take, or to keep the rhythm, i.e. to stress the last two of eight beats (7-8) in order to signal the beginning of another figure with the first beat of the following tact.

 

Since such a conductor was called drum major (in French ‘tambour-major’), it is logical to assume that the term ‘majorette’ comes from this word. However, ‘majorette’ is an international term in almost any European language. In English, French, Spanish and lot of languages the term is ‘majorettes’, in German it is ‘majoretten’, in Czech ‘majoretky’, in Polish ‘mažoretki’, in Slovakian ‘mažoretky’, in Montenegrin ‘mažoretke’, in Hungarian ‘mazsorettek’, in Slovenian ‘mažorete’, in Croatian ‘mažoretkinje’, in Russian ‘mažoretok’, etc. Towards the end of the 18th century the drum major was joined and sometimes even replaced by a group of girls who worked with smaller ornamented batons and they would lead an army parade to the rhythm of the marching band. The point was to make the army and going to war seem less stressful and more humane. The girls would, naturally, wear the parade uniforms of the military units of the period in question. This is why today the uniforms of majorettes are so ornamented and colorful (like the uniforms from the 18th and 19th centuries). Eventually, the handling of the baton and flags got more sophisticated by introducing dance steps and changes in the formation.

 

In some countries the majorettes still dance with such maces. The most famous such majorettes come from the South African Republic, while in Europe this kind of expression may still be seen in Poland, France and Italy. The most common term for these majorettes is drum majorettes. This theory is also the most probable one and is considered official by the European Majorettes Association (EMA).

 

THE AMERICAN THEORY OF THE BEGINNING OF MAJORETTES

The third theory comes from the United States. This version is based on the documents in Millsaps College in Mississippi, which claim that shortly after the end of the Civil War (1861-1865), the famous founder of the aforementioned university, major Millsaps, called his “lady athletes” Majorettes. It is very likely that this term started to spread around the USA at the time, but it does not prove that it really originated there. It is more probable that major Millsaps used the already-existing term and merely joined it with his title in quite an imaginative way. This seems even more credible if we take into account the fact that the Americans have a tendency to claim a lot of things their own. Another supporting argument is the fact that the drum major and the majorettes had existed in the French marching bands long before Millsaps came to be; together with the fact that the French had a particularly strong influence in the southern American states until the Civil War. It is also important to emphasis at this point that the majorettes have been preserved in all of the former French colonies, and the author of this text has had the chance to personally witness the performances of majorettes on the Caribbean island of Martinique, and in Tunisia. Both of these performances, although these places are 10 000 km apart, have an almost identical form of majorette dance. It should not therefore be surprising that majorettes had appeared in the USA because of the French influence, whereas major Millsaps was merely the first recorded case.

 

MAJORETTES IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Be that as it may, in the beginning of the 20th century in France and the Netherlands, there are formations of majorettes appearing, who are no longer connected with military parades, but are there to amuse the urban population with their dance to the rhythm of a brass band. In the thirties in the USA there appears the term ‘drum majorettes’ to signify one or two girls with a mace who step in front of a formation. These girls were the only women in the parade. Their skills in working with the mace would make the military, civil or school bands parades look a lot better. Since they had an excellent reception with the audience, the number of the girls in front of the formation increased until they became a separate formation. It is interesting that majorettes were the only one who had right to wear mini-skirts, what was for others unmoral, and in some American states even against law.

 

In 1927 Ed Clark opened first manufacture for producing majorettes’ batons. In 1940 Sivils’ restaurant in Houston (Texas) waiters wears majorettes’ uniforms. In 1940’s lot of restaurants, shops, presentations, fairs etc. their waiters, salesladies and hostesses dressed in majorettes’ uniforms. On 28th April, 1941 Life magazine had majorette in front page, and had several articles about majorettes, including advertisements for majorettes’ equipment. Majorettes perform in advertising spots. In 1941 Judy Garland acts in film “Zigfield Girl” as majorette. Her photo in majorette uniform was official photo on all posters and film promotion.

 

From 1940 till 1970 majorettes led absolutely all marching bands in USA and Canada. In France, after the World War II, the first rule-books appeared, that had been specially developed in sixties. At that time the rule-books determined not only the ways to grade the dance steps, or irregular dance steps, but they also determined what the formations should look like, how they should perform, as well as the appearance of the uniforms, and even the way to tie the hair, as well as the ornaments on the uniforms. In the seventies, there were more than a hundred majorette bands in France. In our archives we have copy of French rulebook from 1969.

 

In 1958, the USTA (the United States Twirling Association) was founded, and a little while later, the NBTA (the National Baton Twirling Association). These two associations opened their franchises in Europe, and since 1975 baton twirling has been a sports discipline, while baton twirlers are considered to be gymnasts. The majorette dance in Western Europe is taking severe blows from baton twirling.

 

Majorettes were also Kath Soucie (as Jetta Handover) in TV serial “Clifford the Big Red Dog”, Francia Raise (as Adrian Lee) in TV serial “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”, most of characters in horror movie “The Majorettes”, Sakura Kimoto in animated serial “Cardcoptor Sakura”, Catherine Tate (as Bunty Carmichael) in TV series “The Catherine Tata Show”.

 

But the biggest popularization of majorettes for sure was Madonna tour “MDNA” (2012.) where she was majorettes as part of her majorettes’ team. In 67 concerts in Europe, North and South America and Asia, more than 2,2 million people saw Madonna as majorette.

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After 2nd World War majorettes were subject of advertising for different companies, themes of flipper, on post stamps, as character of cartoons, in music and promo spots, as part of anniversaries, promotions…

 

Since 1990’s majorettes are part of huge sport events, especially football, working for biggest sport events (handball, water polo, basketball, rowing, riding…), TV shows, concerts. Thousands of tours are organized for majorettes every year and they have hundreds of thousands performances every year. Some teams have the biggest companies as sponsors.

 

THE EUROPEAN MAJORETTES’ ASSOCIATION

On January 15th, 1999 the traditional European majorettes finally formed their association under the name of European Majorettes’ Association (EMA). It was founded in Zagreb, where the representatives of ten European countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Great Britain) gathered. It was decided that the centre of EMA would be in Zagreb. The first president of EMA was Alen Šćuric (Croatia), and the Main Secretary Emil Culinka (Slovakia).

 

Today majorettes group exists in France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Poland, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Austria, Lithuania, Ukraine and Sweden. Outside Europe the traditional majorettes exist in Tunisia, Algiers, Martinique, Guadalupe, Paraguay, Guayana, Polynesia, South Africa and the USA.

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From: Alen Šćuric, "The rules for the competition, the trainers and referees, and instructions for the majorette dance", HMS, Zagreb, 1997, with additions for the period from 1997 until 2016.