Mississippi Valley State University’s Satin Dolls dance team is ready to get back into the swing.
“Unfortunately, our (last) season was almost nonexistent because we didn’t have a football season, and that’s where we mostly perform, during football season. Everything was shut down in the fall of 2020,” said Fulvia Ford, the dance team’s coach and a former Satin Dolls dancer herself.
Fulvia Ford
MVSU’s football season last year was pushed back to the spring semester by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Satin Dolls were able to perform at only one home game.
Some dancers who were seniors “didn’t get to fulfill their hopes of what a traditional senior year looks like” in terms of getting to perform on the field, Ford said.
Thanks to the disbursement of COVID-19 vaccines, this season has a brighter outlook.
“We’re excited that it looks like we’re going to have a traditional season with football season being in the fall, and we’re getting things back to normal,” Ford said. “We’re hoping and praying that things stay on the track.”
The Satin Dolls dance team performs as a part of MVSU’s Mean Green Marching Machine band during athletic games, such as football and basketball, as well as during parades and pep rallies. Ford describes the dance team as “the beauties of the band.”
Their dance style, as Ford describes it, is “SWAC hip-hop majorette.” SWAC refers to the Southwestern Athletic Conference, which includes MVSU and other Southern historically Black colleges and universities.
“Our dancing style cannot be defined by just one genre. We uniquely combine our different styles to create an unforgettable performance for our audiences,” Ford said. “You may see lyrical, jazz, hip-hop, majorette and so on. For us, dance is dance.”
For two weeks at the start of this month, the Satin Dolls dancers rose early for practice sessions lasting from 6 to 10 a.m. during band camp in order to prepare for the season.
The group performed earlier this week in Jackson at JAM, a pep rally for students at Jackson State University, Alcorn State University and MVSU.
Now in her eighth season as the coach, Ford said she gets the same excitement watching her girls as she did when she danced herself.
“For me dancing is therapy. Although I’m older now — I can’t perform out there in the field — I get the same exhilaration watching the girls fulfill their dance dream,” she said.
Takiyah Wahhab, left, the captain of MVSU’s Satin Dolls dance team, and Lovely Anderson, the team’s co-captain, get ready for a performance that the team had in Jackson this past week.
Takiyah Wahhab, an MVSU senior who is majoring in communications with a minor in business administration and originally from Detroit, said she is “ecstatic and energetic and ready to be part of the events that are coming up, especially since this is my last year with my HBCU experience.”
This season is her fourth with the dance team. She is its captain after serving as a co-captain for the previous two years.
Wahhab, who started dancing when she was 4, studied ballet, contemporary, modern and jazz dancing while growing up. She said she was drawn to Valley’s team because it combined various dance styles into something that she had never seen before.
Lovely Anderson, a Greenwood native and junior who is studying science education, is starting her third year with the Satin Dolls as the group’s co-captain.
“Honestly, dancing is something that I always wanted to do. I didn’t even know how to dance. I started dancing in eighth grade — someone taught me how to dance,” she said. “I danced throughout middle school and high school, and after I graduated that’s when I tried out for the Satin Dolls.”
Dancing on the field during halftime shows brings its own rush, she added: “It’s different on the field. You have all the fans at the game, watching you; it’s like your adrenaline starts rushing. It’s an amazing experience.”
Anderson said she is looking forward to a great season and glad to be “getting back to the usual.”
The Satin Dolls’ first performance at a home game will be Oct. 2 during homecoming. The Delta Devils will face North Carolina Central University.
- Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.-com.
