There are three predominately Black drill teams left standing in the Chicago area that has dominated the scene for the past two decades while carving out their style and grace. The New Generation Fancy Drill Team and Performance Arts Ensemble was founded by James Crafton. Crafton, a Phillips High School graduate and alumni of the Untouchables United Dance Troup and House-O-Matics.

In 2000, Crafton was with the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) under the leadership of Gil Walker and Phillip Jackson, he said Jackson encouraged him to create a unique program that would attract young residents while teaching them academic fundamentals.

“He wanted a program that was not a traditional program. He wanted something non-sports related. We started up with the drill team. I brought all of my skills and talent from being a part of the ROTC program in high school. I’ve always been a dancer. No one taught me—at the time I was known as Heavy C, and I was already a headliner.”

James Crafton, founder, and director of New Generation Fancy Drill Team.

Along with the assistance of other educational instructors, they wrote the curriculum. They were given a budget of $48,000 to begin the program and build the team. However, when administrations changed over from CHA to the Chicago Park District, the program was outsourced. Crafton said, “They wound up shutting it down. They bought all of our start-up equipment. I acquired my 5013c and pulled together my board of directors, and I carried on the legacy.”

Eighteen years later, the New Generation Drill Team is holding their own promoting and recruiting new members through word-of-mouth, social media, and the After-School Matters (ASM) portal— sending out information to parents and schools. Crafton started out in the Chicago Public Schools and eventually was offered to join ASM.

“It was a component to increase student test scores. Starting with math, reading, and comprehension and not about coming together with only glitz and glam. Being a part of our team, students learn the formation of the body, the posture, the stance then you tap into pageantry. All of that was what we conveyed to the school system,” he explains. The roadblocks have not slowed Crafton and his returning alumni from teaching youth the discipline and art of drill. Taking charge and leading his 50+ member team, don’t let the extra weight fool you— he is a powerhouse of energy and style.

The formula of team building is also breaking down new members when they join the team. What does that mean necessarily?

New Generation Fancy Drill Team Baby Dolls Squad

He explains, “Break them down meaning—get them out the mindset that they’re accustomed to and prepare them for the performance world— public presentation. If they are a video kid, we want to capture their attention. Most of them, think they want to do this until they come in and realize it’s hard work. It’s not just a drill team, it’s a lifestyle, and you prepare them for the real world. When you think about drilling, it’s not recognized from a funding source,” he says. “We run the art of drumming; we teach them how to play the drums, the pageantry, and the military aspect of it. We’re a paramilitary drill team.”

Some of the students who take ROTC in high school, he said typically pass that course with a breeze.

“They can adapt under pressure. The members respond to me, ‘Yes, sir, no sir.’ When you go with the entertaining aspect, it’s the performance. When I leave this drill team, I’m going to take this away to understand someone’s else’s jobs. The first thing to learn is discipline. I can’t take you away from your community and go out there to perform for others, and then you go out there looking and sounding a mess. You’re a paid unit, so you need to bring it and make some noise.”

New Generation Drill Team has won numerous awards including the 2017 Bud Billiken Best Drill Team competition and would like to see more teams participate from around the country either in future Bud parades or a separate category competition.

The team receives offers throughout the state however, there’s nothing like showing off at the Bud Billiken Parade and considered the ‘hometown’ event of the year. “Every opportunity that is given to us to show our faces, we just make it ‘do what it does’.”

Note: This article was originally published in the inaugural issue of Bronzeville Life Vol. 1 for August/September 2018.