To be a Prestigious Pantherette is not just about being a dancer or a performer, but about embracing and expressing oneself while also taking the time to learn from others and making room to grow.

The Pantherettes are an all-women dance team on campus and a fairly new organization, with it being approved last semester in November of 2022.

Kyia George, a junior exercise science major, created the Prestigious Pantherettes herself because, while being on campus and away from home, she felt like something was missing in her life.

“I chose to create the Prestigious Pantherettes dance team because I felt like I was missing a part of me while being away from home,” George said. “I have always danced my whole life and when I noticed that I wasn’t happy here at Eastern and instead of looking for somewhere else to go, I decided it was time to create a space here for me.”

George built a space where she could have that therapeutic outlet for herself to be able to dance while also allowing others to share that same passion and create a fun community together.

“I decided to share my passion in a way that people could enjoy it too, but also feel satisfied when watching it, that’s why I push for us to bring diversity and showcase the balance between hip-hop in our generation while using dance as a therapeutic outlet” George said.

Alicia Barnes, a senior criminology and sociology major, is a part of the coaching staff and is the secretary treasurer for the Pantherettes.

For Barnes, unity is a big aspect to being a Pantherette.

“It’s all about unity because being in a [predominately white institution], black women don’t have a lot of things that we can do to express ourselves,” Barnes said. “I felt like the dancing was a great way to bring some of our culture back to the campus and make some people here feel like they have a place, whether it’s something small like dancing or helping manage the team like I do, or just being a part of something here.”

It’s an opportunity for other Black women to feel inspired and be able to join the team to also share that same outlet, as well as for other Black people to see them perform and know that they can do the same with their own personal passions.

“I chose to be a Pantherette because being on the team gets me closer to my culture and my people,” Barnes said. “I love helping the minority in any way possible and this is my small way of doing so.”

For both George and Barnes, their moms are an inspiration to them and a woman-figure they look up to the most.

George has followed in her mom’s footsteps by creating the Prestigious Pantherettes, being their coach, and building a foundation within her team.

“Growing up we didn’t come from the best background, and she showed me a different light,” George said. “By doing that and creating her own business, putting in the work herself, stepping out of her family-owned business and starting her own, it kind of drove me to have that type of drive.”

Barnes admires her mom for being a hardworking woman who has set goals for herself and being able to achieve them.

“I would say that any woman that was able to reach her goals and was disciplined enough to go forward and persevere through any of the hurt and the pain and whatever it takes to get to where she wanted to go, and she did it, I admire that,” Barnes said.

Being in a leadership position and having people look up to them can be difficult, but it is a learning opportunity for both of them, and the girls.

“I love it so much,” George said. “It is obviously hard, it’s not easy but it helps me grow as a person. I learn every second that I’m with the girls. They teach me a lot about myself, they teach me to be a better leader, and to just see them how they started and the finishing product after different shows definitely makes me emotional because they’re loving it as much as I do. That’s all I ask for.”

“Some personal goals I have for the team would be learning how to be of service to other women who may need me,” Barnes said. “Personally, I feel as though our voice in society as Black women is especially limited and I want to be able to not only be a helping hand, but also make them feel safe enough to be able to talk to me about anything.”

George also wants other women to know that it doesn’t matter what other people think or say.

“I always tell myself women run the world, like the world literally doesn’t move if we don’t make it,” George said. “We give birth, we give life, so there’s nothing that nobody could ever tell us.”

Ashanti Thomas can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].