Lydia Maguire 
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Radio City Rockettes and a century of high kicks, precision choreography, and iconic holiday performances. But for much of that history, the famous line was infamously not diverse. It wasn’t until 1987 that New Jersey native Jennifer Jones broke the barrier as the first Black Rockette, making her debut at Super Bowl XXII in 1988 and dancing with the troupe for 15 trailblazing seasons.
The Montclair Girl recently spent an afternoon with the West Orange local, now an author, Broadway performer, and colon cancer survivor, and her husband, Jeff DeBarbieri. What began as a simple plan to grab coffee at Harper’s Café and then tour Jennifer’s favorite Montclair spots quickly became something deeper: an hour of honesty, vulnerability, and unexpected tears.
Sitting at a wooden table surrounded by local art and the soft hum of laptops, Jennifer shared the joys and triumphs of her career, and the hardest chapters of her life. At one point, as she spoke about her battle with colon cancer and Jeff shared how he had lost his first wife to the same disease before choosing to open his heart again, the two reached across the table and quietly held hands. It was a moment layered with grief, gratitude, and the kind of love that survives unimaginable loss. All three of us were crying.
From Harper’s Café, we followed Jennifer to a few of her favorite places around Montclair. But we quickly realized that the story wasn’t really about the locations. It was about the journey of a little Black girl from New Jersey who knew she was born to dance on the world’s biggest stage, and the remarkable woman she became, shaped by perseverance, artistry, faith, and love.
Read on for our Q&A with Jennifer Jones: the first Black Rockette, cancer survivor, author, and proud Montclair/West Orange local.
Local Life: Montclair + West Orange Favorites
MG: Let’s talk local first. What are some of your favorite spots in Montclair and around West Orange?
JJ: Well, first, where we are right now, Harper’s Café, in West Orange. It opened a few years ago, and it’s a small, Black-owned local business. I love that I can just come down the street, grab a cup of coffee, and go about my day. The hours are short; they close early in the afternoon, and it really feels like a true neighborhood coffee shop. In Montclair, I love Qahwah House, the coffee house. I really love the backstory and the feeling of the space. And I always seem to find myself in Anthropologie in Montclair.
MG: Oh my gosh, Same!
JJ: Watchung Booksellers has a special place in my heart. They’re a staunch supporter of my memoir, Becoming Spectacular, and my children’s book, On The Line. I’m so proud that I got to read my children’s book (at Watchung Booksellers Kid’s Room), and also be a part of the Montclair Public Library, where we had a beautiful reading of my memoir…And there’s an Italian butcher in Watchung Plaza…
MG: Rosario’s?
JJ: Rosario’s! When I first started chemotherapy, I didn’t realize how I was micro-managing my diet, and after my first chemo treatment, I realized how hungry I was. My mother always came to the treatments with me, and after the first one, we stopped at Rosario’s. I got an eggplant parm with pasta and bread. I went home, and I ate the entire meal. And it was delicious. I had forgotten how much food was nourishing me. I sat on the couch afterwards, and I waited for my symptoms to come back, for my stomach to hurt, to get bloated, and none of that happened. I felt so good.
MG: What about beauty or self-care spots?
JJ: Waxing the City in Montclair is a go-to for me. There’s a boutique on Valley Road, across from Juniper Fitness, I’m blanking on the name, but I’ve gotten beautiful earrings there and really unique jewelry and gifts around the holidays. It’s one of those places where you always find something.
Read More: A List of Women-Owned Businesses in Montclair
MG: Oh I know the one! I love Juniper! That’s the studio where I do yoga! Such a great community there!
JJ: Yes! Gracie and Shakiem. They’re amazing. Now I go to Power Yoga in Livingston. I like my hot yoga really hot.
MG: Yeah, me too. You also said you go to ChillRx Cryotherapy?
JJ: Yeah. So, I decided to try Cryotherapy about eight months ago, and it is such a contrast to what I have been doing in practicing hot yoga. And all the instructors know that I like the room the hotter the better. And cryotherapy is the exact opposite. You get into a chamber that is below freezing for at least three minutes. And you get these incredible benefits like increased circulation, muscle fatigue is gone, collagen boosting, increasing metabolism, and it’s something that I absolutely love, considering it’s the exact opposite of the hot yoga that I practice.
The First Black Rockette + Finding the Voice That Says “I Belong Here”
MG: You went to New York to be on Broadway, not necessarily to be a Rockette. How did the Rockettes even get on your radar?
JJ: I went to New York to be a Broadway star. My parents took my sister and me to Broadway shows growing up. That was the dream. I wanted to be Stephanie Mills in The Wiz. One day at Broadway Dance Center, we were flipping through Backstage and saw the Rockettes audition listed. I kind of skipped over it. I didn’t really know who they were or what they did. My friend said, “Jennifer, you should audition for the Rockettes. You’d make a great Rockette.” I was very green at auditions. I didn’t know how to do my hair or what to wear, so I decided to go mostly just to get better at auditioning for my “real” goal: Broadway.
MG: What was that audition like for you?
JJ: The line wrapped around the building with the most gorgeous women I’d ever seen. Their hair, makeup, everything was perfect. I didn’t see another Black woman on the line. I really thought about leaving. I kept looking at my watch, thinking, “If I leave now, I can still make my favorite jazz class with Frank Hatchett at 11.” I literally turned to walk away, and it felt like something just pushed me back into the line. This little inner voice that said, “Stay.”
I still don’t know exactly why I stayed, but I did. And becoming the first Black Rockette changed my life. If I had walked away, everything would have been different.
MG: You mentioned you actually found out you were the first Black Rockette by watching the news. How did that happen?
JJ: I auditioned, got called back, and then you don’t hear anything. They don’t usually call and say, “You got the job.” A few months later, Violet Holmes called me and asked if I wanted to do the Super Bowl XXII halftime show. I was so nervous – it was my first big job – that I actually asked if I could call her back! Half an hour later, I called back and said yes. A few nights after that, I was watching the 11PM news on Channel 4. Sue Simmons comes on and says, “Radio City just hired its first Black dancer since the troupe started in 1925.” I literally thought, “Huh, I wonder who that is.” My mother called me and said, “Jennifer, are you watching the news?” I said yes. She asked, “Is that you?” And I said, “I don’t know. Nobody’s told me anything.” It wasn’t until later that they officially told me I was the first Black woman in the troupe, and then they immediately threw me into media training. At 20 years old, I was suddenly being trained as a spokesperson and role model, but I didn’t even fully understand the legacy or the history I had just walked into.
MG: Once you were on the line, what was it really like to be “the first”?
JJ: Anytime there’s change, there’s resistance. Some people were welcoming, and some weren’t. Some of the women on the line, some people in management…not everyone was thrilled to have a Black woman there. I was scrutinized a lot, constantly corrected, and sometimes laughed at. There were moments that really got into my confidence and made me question if I belonged. But my dream was to dance on a great stage and walk out that backstage door. I had wanted that since I was nine. No one was allowed to take that away from me. I got to dance on the same stage, wear the same costumes, and walk out of the same backstage door as everyone else. That’s what I held onto.
MG: Where do you think that strength and that “I belong here” voice came from?
JJ: It was a combination of things. My parents always had my sister and me in activities, and they were big Broadway people, so I was lucky to see shows at all. That planted the seed. There were hard things, too. My parents’ divorce, feeling like I had to grow up fast, trying to figure out my life when my friends already had colleges picked out. I didn’t know what I was doing, so I kept falling back on dance. My mom pushed me. When I was at County College of Morris, she said, “If you’re going to do this, you have to go to New York.” So she pushed me into the city. And then there was this inner guidance system. When friends were in college getting their degrees, and I was thinking, “What am I doing?” Something in me said, “Just try a little bit more.” I hope other people listen to that voice in themselves. It’s not easy…there’s nothing tangible to hold on to…but it’s real.
MG: The Rockettes look much more diverse now than they did when you started. How have you seen things change over time?
JJ: When I started, I was alone on the line for about four or five years. Eventually, they hired more Black women and other women of color, but Radio City never really kept official records of “Rockettes of color,” so some of us are now trying to piece together who was there when. Today, there’s definitely more diversity. I think any child who goes to see the Christmas show now, whatever their background, can look onstage and see someone who looks like them. The vibe among the women is different now, too, in a good way. They seem very close, like best friends. That wasn’t always the energy when I started.
Cancer, Self-Advocacy + “That Doctor Didn’t Know Who She Was Dealing With”
MG: You’ve also gone through something very different but just as intense: colon cancer. How did you first realize something was wrong?
JJ: I had just turned 50, and I could feel something was off. I thought maybe it was gluten, IBS, or something like that. I pushed my doctor to schedule a screening, and she brushed me off for about a month. “You’ve been a vegetarian for 25 years, you’re fine.” I insisted. I told the scheduler, “I want to be seen as soon as possible.” Two weeks later, I had my colonoscopy. I woke up drinking my juice, and my doctor said, “I have some bad news. You have cancer, and it looks like you have about five years to live.”
MG: That’s an unimaginable sentence to hear. What did you do next?
JJ: I didn’t tell anyone for a month. I felt ashamed and embarrassed. I’d always been “the healthy one.” The runner, the dancer, the vegetarian. The night before a big family trip, I sat down with Jeff and finally told him. Saying it out loud to him was really the first time I admitted it to myself. We both just sat and cried. Eventually, I told my family, and they told me to go to Memorial Sloan Kettering. When I walked into Sloan, I felt halfway healed already, just knowing they cared. I had an almost all-female team. I’m a huge believer in advocating for yourself and for your care team.
TMG: How are you doing now?
JJ: I go for my regular MRIs, CT scans, and bloodwork. This year will be my seventh year cancer-free.
Jeff: That first doctor clearly had no idea who she was dealing with.
MG: Do you feel like your background as a dancer helped you get through treatment?
JJ: Absolutely. Being a Rockette is all about precision, discipline, and showing up even when it hurts. All those years of routine and working through pain translated into how I approached chemo. I followed the process. I stayed on schedule. I treated it like choreography I had to get through to survive.
Love + A Soft Place to Land
Photo credit: Ben Esner Photography @benesnerphotography
TMG: Jeff, you were there with her through treatment even before you were married. How did you two first meet?
Jeff: We lived in the same neighborhood. I was outside raking leaves one day, and she ran by (she ran the neighborhood a lot) and she said hi. She kept going, and I put the rake down and watched her run off and thought, “This is going to be a problem.” Later, I was working as a chef at Rock Spring Country Club, and she got hired there as a receptionist. That was it. We saw each other every day.
JJ: When we met at the club, he said, “You’re the runner.” And I said, “No, I’m not.” He said, “I know you.” And then I realized who he was.
MG: You weren’t married yet when you were diagnosed, and he stayed. How did that support shape your experience?
JJ: It was comforting to have someone there unconditionally. He didn’t have to stay, especially after already losing his first wife to brain cancer. He could have walked away from going through that again. Instead, he stayed. That gave me a soft place to land. It let me focus on healing and being grateful to still be alive, instead of worrying if I was going to be left.
MG: What was that like for you, Jeff, supporting her through something so difficult?
Jeff: I just felt like this is my chance to help someone. I loved her, and she loved me, and I wasn’t going anywhere.
What’s Next: Books, Dolls, + Big Dreams
MG: You’ve been a Rockette, danced on Broadway, performed at the Super Bowl, and survived cancer. What does “dreaming big” look like for you now?
JJ: I still love being creative. My feet are a little arthritic now. I joke that I’d be a great showgirl, maybe not the serious tap dancer anymore. I’ve poured a lot into my books: my children’s book, my memoir, and my Dancing Jen doll. I’d love to turn Becoming Spectacular into a movie, a series, or a documentary. I’d love an animated series of On the Line for kids. I want to write a middle-grade or YA book for seventh- and eighth-graders. I also do a lot of commercial work now, which I wanted to do when I was performing but never really got to. Everything is divine timing. I still want to be in front of the camera, do endorsements, maybe something with running.
I don’t think people should ever stop reaching for their dreams, no matter how old they are. As long as I have the ambition and the desire, I’m going to keep going, and I hope I inspire other people to do the same.
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