IU Essence dancers shine on campus

As a 22-year-old mother of two, Jessica Scott is not your average freshman. After spending the years following her high school graduation working at a health care company and as an instructor at a dance studio, Scott said she decided to return to school. When she arrived on campus, she was instantly recruited by IU Essence, a hip-hop dance group.

“I really had no choice,” Scott said. “They told me, ‘You’re doing this.’”

The dance group was started by former IU student Taprena Augustine in 1995. Arbara Rogers, former IU Essence team captain and current Indianapolis Colts cheerleader, said Augustine believed there was a lack of opportunity for minority students on campus. Since the group’s formation, IU Essence has performed all over IU, and more recently on cable television.

Without official sponsorship from the University, Essence has been managed and coached solely by students. Even without a staff sponsor, Essence has been able to perform for large audiences without any funding from the school. Last year, the group performed at BET’s “Spring Bling,” and tentatively in January, they will return to BET to perform on the daily music video countdown show, “106 & Park.”

After finishing her degree at IU, Rogers said she decided to take her dance and academic career to the next level by auditioning to be an Indianapolis Colts cheerleader while attending graduate school at the University of Indianapolis. Rogers and her former Essence teammate Kimberly Tibbs have spent this year balancing their academic careers with their duties as members of the Colts cheerleading squad. “I started my dancing career with Essence, and I wouldn’t be here without Essence,” Tibbs said.

Essence members said a goal for the group has been to increase minority awareness on campus.

“At the beginning of the year, during Culture Fest, what do you see?” Rogers said. “You see IU Essence.”

Although the team is primarily comprised of black students, Rogers said the group has made an effort to not exclude anyone.

“We’ve always been diverse,” Rogers said. “It’s not like a racial thing while we’re at practice. We’re all one unit. We’re all IU Essence.”

Rogers said that Essence received donations from various minority student groups on
campus. But despite this support, members said they feel life in Bloomington is far from perfect.

Scott said her impressions about race relations in Bloomington were formed when a white male spit in her face for allegedly cutting him in line at a night club. When she was thrown out of the club by a black female security guard for fighting back, she was even more shocked. Scott said the encounter made it difficult for her to feel welcome in Bloomington.

“I asked her, ‘Now be real, if someone spit in your face, what would you do?’” Scott said. “She told me that’s how things are here.”

For students like Scott, Essence is an opportunity to connect with other students in a comfortable environment. Because some former members have success as NFL
cheerleaders and others have entered the workforce after attending IU, Essence has
given its members a sense of community and an alumni network many of them said they felt was lacking from their experience at IU.

Despite the problems she deals with at IU, Scott said she is optimistic about her goals.

“Someday, I won’t be able dance, but I’d always like to be involved with it,” Scott said. “I’d like to do something that helps people.”