Time to Dance Off the Floor Back

Oct 16, 2013

By Tracey Bivens

I don't know if I want to cry, have a tall glass of Moscato (and I don't even drink) or just scream!

I've spent the last two days reading and re-reading post after post on Facebook about the instructional direction that steppin has taken. I've read comments about people that think they can step and need to sit down, people who should go before a firing squad for having the audacity to teach steppin outside of the Illinois border and the plea for people to get "a life.” Well, here's my two cents to offer my perspective about this topic.

First of all, I gotta take it back to 1997, when I went to my first WLSC in Chicago. I wasn't doing too much steppin because being from Detroit, I was surrounded by Detroit Ballroom Dancing, Boppin and Latin Hustlin. Dance contests existed in Detroit but not to the degree of what I saw in Chicago. The McCormick Place, I believe that's where I was, was jam packed with participants dressed to the nines, thousands of excited audience members and mini celebrities (Bernadette Stanis and Ernest 'Roger Thomas' from "What's Happening”) were sitting across from me. It was a long but addictive contest.

That weekend I got to see Tyk Myn, Charnice, Mundi, Keith Hubbard, Donnie Davis, Dre, Danielle, Tina, Margaret, Kiana Moore, Yahir, etc. for the first time at some sets and I was in awe. There is no dance on this earth that captures ego and swag like steppin. Great steppers look confident, like they own the world, their dance steps are sleek and the people that watch them admire that. There...I said it! It's a sentiment I've heard echoed over and over again throughout the years by others.

I was hooked. I asked Yahir personally if classes were being taught because how else was I supposed to learn this dance? He said as only Yahir can say, "You can't learn this shit in no damn class! You got to go to our sets and watch just like I did and maybe...maybe...you might be able to follow some guy one day.” That was to be my textbook for the next 12 years. My eyes.

Shortly thereafter I had heard about Donnie Davis' workshop. It was not called a "class” but a Saturday workshop in which old school steppers would stop by for the hell of it. It was basically a Saturday morning set. Again, some of the Chicago steppers I mentioned above dropped by and I got to witness the "magic” again. This white guy named Stefan...oh my God...had swag like a brother!

Detroiters started driving down west I-94 with great frequency. There were those of us that wanted to experience this dance and be able to do it in our own cities. This was the hard part. A lot of our men weren't completely sold on the dance and the couple of men that were in Detroit could not teach it to other men who were being "recruited” to learn it.

In the meantime, Malik Swan, Sherrod, LC, Brian, Dre, Tyk, Danielle, Keith Hubbard, Angie Faine, Donnie and Yahir came to Detroit mainly because a couple of us had befriended and asked if they could come and actually "show” our men how to lead. For some of us women, we had developed enough of a basic to follow Chicago men but we were still "watching” women in Chicago trying to develop that "swag.”

While we learning steppin, we were critiqued constantly. "Nope...slow down.” "Don't move like that...move like this!” Now mind you, this was on the dance floor and not during class because there weren't any and our "heroes and sheroes” didn't learn like that so why should we? That was the mindset of a handful of us that could get the moves without being in a structured environment.

Well, wouldn't you know it? As the demand for steppin classes continued, the Chicago steppin economic formula was born. Supply and Demand. Classes popped up in Chicago with great frequency as well as in Detroit. Again...none of our "friends” from Chicago were really feeling the class thing and discouraged us from attending anything structured.

Meanwhile, quiet conversations came out of the mouths of some "steppers” in Detroit which centered around being able to "blend.” This is an out of town term that means you can go to Chicago and no woman or man should be able to distinguish that you are from somewhere other than Chicago. The other term that was being tossed around and sought after was "respect.” The thought was if Chicago stated verbally that they respected the way we stepped being from Detroit and all...that that somehow gave us a pass into the kingdom of Heavy Hitters or A-listers. There were those of us that were known for going back and forth to Chicago monthly and hanging out at the sets but then there were those individuals that entered the WLSC in hopes of achieving the verbal steppin accolades that way. The thought being...now that I have won a contest in Chicago...I'm sitting on a thrown. Are you going to find people that will admit that...I doubt it...but I was there and I lived it...and HEARD it time and time again.

2005 came and Detroit represented at the WLSC. Taunts were hurled, accusations of cheating were tossed and Detroit participants came back disgusted because they didn't place. Thus...the out of town category was born. You may look back at the videos and ask yourself...was Detroit really ready to take home trophies. No...seasoning is very important in this dance and many of us were still "baking” because by this time class after class was being taught, workshop after workshop was being given, men were doing the womens' step and some women were jogging in place...it was a hot mess going on. I couldn't figure it out then but the truth was there. The classes were miseducating the people who wanted to become steppers. The classes that were being taught by Detroiters and Chicagoans.

Fast forward to the time period of 2007-2013. Drew, Feo, James Pacely, Kammal, Sherry, LaKeesha, Candace, Ann, Darrel, Angie and other Detroit/Fint WLSC winners and instructors have placed in the WLSC major categories and have received trophies, money and pats on the back and travel out of town instructing. I have interviewed dozens of out of towners who have attained similar feats but...after reading the Facebook posts from the last 48 hours...there is still a collective voice of doubt that insists because Detroit instructors who teach out of town as well as other out of town instructors...we will never measure up, be respected by Chicago Heavy Hitter steppers and continue to create collateral damage is student's steppin education across the country.

I don't know yall...should everyone stop teaching and just watch You Tube videos if they want this dance. Should everyone take their butts to Chicago and eye hustle like those of us did back in the late 90s? Should everybody who wants to teach be allowed to teach regardless of their skill because it's a free country? Should we even care anymore?

Me, being the eternal optimist, kind of hoped that some Chicago Heavy Hitters would get on Facebook and say something like this. "Detroiters...and other out of town steppers and steppin instructors...we applaud your efforts in helping to spread our culture around the country. To know that you spent tireless hours, money, wear and tear on your cars etc....means the world to us. You asked us all endless questions about the history of steppin so you could spread the legacy of this dance...this brings joy to our hearts. Thank you for being the ambassadors of this dance that our steppin family created back in the day. We are not perfect instructors, we are not perfect steppers and we don't know everything but we encourage you all to respect that and represent that mindset as well.”

Can I wait to see what the next chapters bring in the Chicago steppin legacy? Yeah...I can. SMH.