While growing up, Alexis Adams was surrounded by the mixture of hip-hop and majorette dance styles. So it was only natural that Adams love for dance originated in elementary school and flourished well into high school and college.

“One of my biggest [dance] inspirations would be my cousin,” said Adams, founder and membership chair of C-Nettes. “She started a majorette dance team while I was in high school. Being a part of a majorette dance team came with opportunities and advantages to make connections that created longtime friendships with young women.”

Because of this, Adams was ambitious to follow in her cousin’s footsteps with her organization, C-Nettes. C-Nettes was officially formed by Adams in September 2016. Today, Adams can reach out to past connections for guidance on how to make Iowa State better as a whole through C-Nettes and to provide the same opportunity she had by impacting the lives of other young women’s lives who have the passion for majorette dance.

“I was searching around for a club at Iowa State that would interest me,” Adams said. “I never found my niche, so I decided to create my own group, the C-Nettes. I wanted this organization to shine a positive light on confidence and solidarity for women with cultural backgrounds.”

As for now, the C-Nettes consists of five girls. The group is hoping to expand the team to seven more girls after auditions and tryouts.

C-Nettes Pre-Audition Clinic will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Friday in Forker Building Room 198. C-Nettes is allowing all women students to come out and participate. After the clinic, candidates who stand out to the group will get an invitation to perform at auditions. The organization is welcoming for all types of women with different backgrounds to try something fresh, even if they do not have experience or prior knowledge in dance. Their mission is to be inclusive for all women to join.

“C-Nettes encompasses diversity and confidence for all girls to perform majorette styles, such as jazz, lyrical, hip-hop and more,” Adams said. “We acknowledge girls with a positive attitude and willingness to learn.”

C-Nettes is not exclusive to Iowa State students only. The organization welcomes students from DMACC, Drake or anywhere near the area. No matter a women’s size, ethnicity or cultural background, C-Nettes hopes to amplify the spirit to be confident and comfortable in one’s own skin.

“C-Nettes is important to exist on campus at Iowa State,” Adams said. “On an Iowa State campus, you do not see a group like us here. It is a culture-based group for all sisters to experience ethnicity and diversity with a support system for all of them to fall back on.”

C-Nettes affects each and every member of the majorette dance team differently. It hits especially home for new comer Macailah Hollin, a freshman in kinesiology and health.

“For being so far away from family it was difficult to adapt to this new world,” Hollin said. “C-Nettes allowed me to comfortably establish new friendships within practice and outside of practice.”

C-Nettes has made appearances at the homecoming parade, International Night, winter formals for Black Student Alliance and have combined with other clubs, such as DubH. With their costumes, C-Nettes glimmer and gleam from every angle. Each girl makes a mark with their poise in radiance, vibrant attire. 

This semester, C-Nettes are planning to launch a YouTube channel about “girl talk.” The channel will entail members of the group giving out advice to young women and demonstrating their styles of dance to viewers.

This summer, the group is heading south for a conference to team up with historically black colleges and universities, such as Jackson State and Georgia State. This conference will help the majorette group to learn how to march, different dance techniques and various stage presences. On top of this, the organization hopes to add to the amount of performances each year including basketball games and football games.

“When we are denied the chances to be on the football field or the basketball court, we fight to find alternative routes,” Adams said. “We go out to the stands with our uniforms on and dance when they are playing the music and try with all our power to get on the big screen.”