Pacemate Alumna Utilizes Talent for Expression, Career
By Christy Hunter
The Exponent
Tamara Ammons-Jones speaks with her body.
Not that she won’t sit down for an hour to laugh with a stranger, but for the Purdue alumna and Indianapolis Pacers cheerleader, dance is expression. Dance is everything.
Sometimes it expresses the pain she can’t release with words. A dancer since the age of 5, Ammons-Jones found solace in performing during one of the most difficult times in her life – the death of classmate and close friend, Morgan Guice, during her senior year at Purdue.
When Guice was killed by a drunk driver, Ammons-Jones was on the Purdue Dance Team, having quit the year before as student coordinator for the Jahari Dance Troupe at the Black Cultural Center. However, she never forgot, and still hasn’t, her “second home” at the BCC.
She especially remembers her mentor and former supervisor, the Troupe’s artist-in-resident, Kevin Iega Jeff. Iega Jeff worked closely with Ammons-Jones during her seven semesters as the Troupe’s student coordinator, where she held dance class at least once a week.
By speaking with Iega Jeff, he was able to translate Ammon-Jones’ grief over Guice into a dance.
“When she expressed the emotion behind what she was feeling,” he said, “she knew she needed to use dance as a way to honor her friend, as a way to speak to the community of the BCC, the Purdue campus and all students who knew the young lady, and to heal herself.”
Ammons-Jones agreed.
“One thing Kevin always said is that (dance) is our way of expressing ourselves. Different people have different ways of expressing themselves, but for dancers that’s how we communicate.”
In 2007, she performed the silent tribute to Guice as a guest during the Jahari Dance Troupe’s spring performance. Renee Thomas, director of the BCC and another mentor of hers, remembered it as a “beautiful, flawless performance.”
These days, that history can’t be seen when you look at the bright-eyed young woman who dances for thousands, a gold and navy “Pacers” logo splashed across her chest. She looks strong and confident, but she doesn’t attribute her ease to experience. This is her fourth consecutive season with the Pacemates, but Ammons-Jones was no more nervous her first day than she looks now.
She doesn’t say it to be cocky, but she just doesn’t get nervous.
“I know myself. I know if I get nervous I’m gonna mess up. I try not to think about it. I do what I know how to do best, which is dance.”
Ammons-Jones uses that confidence to fight for her spot on the team every year, which is never guaranteed. She doesn’t let the lack of stability get to her though, or the fact that she misses the Troupe’s modern dance style “all the time.” In fact, she considers herself blessed.
Comparing Pacemates with Iega Jeff’s “meaningful” style, she sees a big difference between the two forms.
“With Pacemates, it’s literally about performing to the audience, to the crowd, trying to get their attention, trying to draw them in, all smiley faces. We’re performers,” she said. “Whereas with Jahari, it’s not very flashy. It’s very meaningful. I’m almost certain if you went to a performance, it’s gonna tell a story.”
Ammons-Jones wouldn’t pick a favorite style, though.
“There’s many different aspects of dance,” she said. “Pacemates just happens to be another form of dance. There’s nothing wrong with either. I love both.”
Iega Jeff wishes she could have further explored what he calls her gift to be a “born mover.” But he couldn’t be more proud of the former student he connected with on an “intuitive” level.
Looking ahead, Ammons-Jones thinks this will be her last year on the Pacemates and she’s not really sure where she’ll be heading from here.
One thing is certain though: her body is not done dancing.
“Kevin opened my eyes to realize (dance) was more than just a hobby,” she said. “Dance was something that needed to be a part of my life. To this day if someone were to ask me, ‘10 years from now what will you be doing?’ I’d say I’d be dancing.”
