Twirling Photo of the Day Petronila Madrona Geronimo Petronila Madrona Geronimo was among the first majorettes in her province in the Philippines. According to family accounts, she served as the band’s only majorette during her first three years of high school. In her fourth year, she...
This original illustration was inspired by contemporary news photography from the 1982 Peggy Ward controversy. It depicts Ward, at right with her baton, walking through Ringgold High School alongside fellow majorettes. Rather than reproducing the original photograph, the artwork offers a stylized...
Twirling Photo of the Day Dimmitt HS Majorettes in Plaid and Tams Dimmitt High School Majorettes, Dimmitt, Texas, 1980. The Dimmitt High School majorette line posed for this formal studio portrait during the 1980 school year. The photograph captures several design trends common to the era,...
The history of the hoop baton stretches back to the early twentieth century, when performers blended baton manipulation, hoop rolling, and juggling into crowd-please acts. All across the United States, they entertained audiences at carnivals, circuses and vaudeville shows. Eventually, the...
Dottie Dunston: A Jersey Shore Original Dorothy “Dottie” Dunston was one of the most influential baton twirling instructors on the Jersey Shore during the Golden Age of baton twirling. A performer, teacher, judge, pageant director, and school owner, Dunston spent decades introducing...
The_Camden News, April 26, 1974 Born in 1927, James Percy “J.P. (Pee Wee)” Crumpler began twirling in 1937 and quickly became one of the most remarkable young drum majors in the South. At just 12 years of age, he was leading the Camden High School Panther Band under the direction of...
Old Forge’s First Miss Devilette Has Passed Away Maryann Beseda Brigido, the original “Miss Devilette” of Old Forge High School, Pennsylvani, has passed away at the age of 87. Her death marks the loss of the first performer to hold a title that has come to define Friday night...
July Vintage Twirler of the Month As America begins celebrating its 250th anniversary, the Baton Twirling Preservation Society is proud to announce Nancy Rollings Stewart of Gadsden, Alabama, as the inaugural Vintage Twirler of the Month for July 2026. The selection could not be more fitting. A...
Xernona and Xenobia Brewster, Late 1940s | Muskogee, Oklahoma Long before one of them became a nationally honored civil rights icon with a bronze statue in downtown Atlanta, identical twins Xernona and Xenobia Brewster were known in Oklahoma as “The Brewster Twins,” a polished majorette act from...
James “J.C.” Baskett became one of the most recognizable figures in Tennessee baton twirling through his work as a collegiate performer, instructor, and co-founder of the Tennessee Twirling Institute, a program that helped shape competitive baton twirling across the Southeast during the second...
1960 Central High School Kiltie Drum & Bugle Corps Kilties Majorettes (Historical Record) A defining part of the Kilties’ visual identity has been its majorettes, whose presence spans generations of Central High School performers. Alumni records document a continuous line of majorettes...
I finally discovered the name of the twirler on the cover of the July 4, 1976 issue of Newsweek. Her name is Darlene Toth and she was a featured twirler at Toms River North High School in New Jersey. Based on my research, the band performed in Washington D.C. as part of the nation’s...
