Journalism and Mass Communications, College of
Breaking Tradition
Date of this Version
Summer 7-26-2018
Document Type
Media
Citation
The complete professional project can be viewed at https://shondatindall.wixsite.com/breakingtradition
Abstract
When Gussie Nell Davis founded the first dance drill team in 1929, she changed the game of Texas football forever. Halftime was no longer just for the young men in the band; the young ladies now had their time to shine. As decades passed, the dance drill team only grew bigger. The high kicks got higher, the lipstick got brighter, and as Davis once said, “The skirts have gotten shorter and shorter and shorter.”
But, one thing has changed Davis probably would not have predicted. With the rise of LBGTQ rights activism, more young gay men have come forward in the last five years to tryout for female-dominated drill teams. Willing to take on hecklers and naysayers in the stands and elsewhere, these men are becoming the game-changers.
Comments
A multimedia documentary exploring how young gay men in Texas are breaking gender barriers for their chance to dance on their traditionally female-dominated high school drill teams.
© 2018 Shonda Tindall. A Graduate Studies Project for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln