From 2017 to 2020, photographer Alice Mann documented South Africa's all-female school drum majorette corps.
A long-term photographic project explores the way the unique sport of drum majorettes empowers young women in South Africa. Alice Mann describes them as "something between a cheerleading squad and a marching band."
Known as Drummies, drum majorettes began appearing in Cape Town street parades in the 1970s. Today they’re part of competitive clubs, often in schools. Though open to everyone, these teams tend to attract girls from marginalized communities.
Alice Mann photographed South Africa's all-female drum majorettes. This is marching culture that I had never heard of.https://t.co/B8JBxEJViu via @CNNStyle
— Harry Bloomberg (@pittbandphoto) July 27, 2021
This is a sport that palpably empowers those involved, in a society where women must confront myriad obstacles.
Alice was attracted by their energy, femininity, and empowerment. She noticed how a girl’s body language changed the moment she put on her uniform.
Ranging from five to eighteen years old, the majorettes are accustomed to moving their bodies with patience and discipline, harmonizing the nimble arts of flag-waving and baton-twirling with the military precision of moving in formation. But Alice surprised them with her new for them, old for the world way of photography. Mann functioned on the rasp of film-advance levers and rewind cranks, the clicks of mechanical shutters, and the ancient art of spooling film.
‘The work to scan, retouch and organize everything was quite a task. I think at the end I had around 600 rolls of film'.
Alice Mann
Alice Mann’s long-term photography project, Drummies, examines how the sport of drum majorettes empowers young women in South Africa.
"For these girls, involvement in ‘drummies’ becomes a vehicle for them to excel, and the distinctive uniforms serve as a visual marker of perceived success and represent emancipation from their surroundings. Continuing my consideration into notions of femininity and empowerment in modern society, it was my intent to create images that reflect the pride and confidence the girls achieve through identifying as ‘drummies’."
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But for Mann, being involved in Drummies was an accolade in itself.
‘Throughout the time I worked on this series, it was very important to me that the images were able to translate the confidence and pride of the young women involved in the teams, as well as their natural charisma and energy!’
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For Mann is very important to show people in a very empowered way. Not showing young women as victims of their circumstances but as amazing people who can do anything.
