Who's The Best. I Don't Know. Do You? Back
Feb 29, 2012
Let me tell you about a Facebook post that made reference to the ladies in Raleigh, North Carolina and their steppin’ game. It was stated that they are surpassing women steppers nationally. I cleared my throat and read this but halfway through I was perplexed. I was inclined to fire off a lengthy response sprinkled with a bunch of how the hell do you knows. But I chilled. I chose to blog my thoughts. When it comes down to the who’s who of steppers across this county and who’s developing them outside of the midwest, consequently, it boils down to economics. Who is spending the bread to get this thang dot com. Steppin’ cost and the more advanced you become the more funds you will expend. We pay for every turn, spin, trio, walkin’ lesson and let me not leave out the dreaded workshop. From my vantage point the longer you stay in this the more it costs. But before I go on and for those who have read it here’s a refresher and to those who haven’t, check this out. After you are done reading, I am going to expound. Oh, by the way, I cut and pasted the quote below…
Royce Bank’s Facebook quote (December 19th, 2011 @ 7:31 PM): “Hey all, I have to say this. The hottest area in the country with the fastest growing number of hot female dancers is North Carolina. You want proof well, here u go. There is Crystal Ramsey, Zona Wilfong Cureton, Linda Bruton, Lorey Crite, LeLani Mayfield, LaTonia Morrison, Valerie Hopson, Keisha Smith, Shauna Irwin, Erika Little, Shontavia Lee, Dana De Vane-Webster, Vashti Savoy-Russell, Dena Moore-Morrison, D. Graves (Tall Rick’s Girl), Maria Spencer Lewis, April Humphrey, Maryam J. Lynch, Elena Braithwaite, Vivian Perkins, Mashanda Ardister, Annette Read and Kinya Anthony. Nothing personal with the rest of the country but they are hungry/starving. Guess what after seeing them, we all have to get our weight up. Nothing Personal just my opinion. But, I’ll Bet money on it. Other opinions please!”
When I decided to take this journey and give my opinion, I felt it was imperative that I research both entities one being Royce Banks and the other the steppin community in Raleigh. My initial focus was how could he validate and give a whole community that type of endorsement and whose rubber stamping it? That was the question I wanted an answer to and as I ventured out on my quest for the information I took to my laptop. I searched the internet. Where do the above-mentioned ladies rank nationally? I Couldn’t find that info, so I moved on. Still wanting to satisfy my curiosity. I leapt over to Google and hit up youtube for footage, punched in the names and not much showed. Deena Morrison and Erika Little did show some results on the youtube search though. But the interesting thing about Erika was that her information was a mixed bag of steppin’ and line dance and Deena’s info led me to the North Carolina Triangle Steppers website. I wanted to see what linked Royce from Chicago and the women from Raleigh. Checking out the site I found no connection. But there was a posted video housed in the gallery of the North Carolina Triangle Steppers website of Deena dancing with Royce. My nosiness was peeking and I kept looking. I gave up on the ladies and began to focus on Royce. How did they land into Royce’s world? The distance between them is a 14 hour drive or 865.09 miles between them and before you frown and ask me ”how do you know,” I mapquested it.
On The Steppin For Life website which belongs to Royce Banks, he lists himself as the lead instructor for the North Carolina Triangle Steppers. Ah ha, I found it! The tie that binds. He was coming from a biased place. The parent praising the child. How can you give a whole community that type of come-up-ance or national ranking when your teaching them, traveling to their city (not sure about vice versa) and I am sure Mr. Banks is reaping an economic benefit. There are no steppin’ instructors who engage in pro-bono work and if there are, leave a comment and tell me who. If you are not financially stable you will not be able to get this dance, steppin’.
I’ve been to quite a few cities for steppin’. I haven’t run into Royce in many of them except for Atlanta. I see the local steppers, and you know what, I think that steppin’ communities like Memphis, Los Angeles,Oakland, and Atlanta could give the city of Raleigh a run for their money. My thing is how are we measuring this? How is Royce measuring it? I could have easily asked him but I chose not too. Simple as that. I’m not sure how he came to his conclusion, but what I can say is this, I think that he’s using a yard stick.
I’ve travelled to Baton Rouge for the Touch of Class Steppers third anniversary weekend in November and they have some men and women steppers that have a handle on the dance and if viewed by the untrained steppin’ eye you would have thought that they were plucked out of Chicago and planted in Baton Rouge. They have a steppin’ community that is a well-kept secret. Their men are solid and some of the women are flawless. This is not to say that what Raleigh has to offer isn’t sufficient or that their dancers aren’t up to par. Is it fair to place one city above another one? Can we really say that a particular city is the best (let’s omit Chicago for a second) without having a national dance off? Hey, we can do couples from Raleigh against couples from let’s say New York and see who comes out on top and then the winner goes up against the next city, let’s see Seattle and so on and so on… The winner of the Steppin’ City Round Robbin would be crowned the best in the nation. Would that be an efficient way to measure it, a contest?
I’ve traveled a great deal with steppin’. I’ve been to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas, Raleigh, Atlanta, Baton Rougue, Orlando, Arlington and Chicago and to be honest with you, I can’t tell who’s the best out there. From my observation or view-point, we are all good. No city is better than the other. When it comes to Memphis, they travel with a group of bona fide steppers males and females ready to get it in and they hit the dance floor heavy and they cut better while doing it. Have you seen Sheena Clark from Memphis dance? Have you seen Rose Moore turn? Have you seen Brandon from Baton Rouge get it in with Drew and Dre in a trio? How about Tamara Lloyd from LA, heck she has a WLSC win under her belt.
Again, I am not saying that Raleigh doesn’t have steppers worthy of praise. I know they do. But to place them up against communities that are growing and developing steppers every day is just, well, I’m not sure what it is but I can say it doesn’t sit well with me. Dallas has a community that is consistent and developed again as does Los Angeles. Raleigh has been around for quite sometime. I have had the privilege of stepping with them annually, twice. I for one believe that competition is healthy and it requires you to step your game up and stand in the face of a challenge. But let’s not pit community against community. I just don’t think it’s cute.
