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Reggie Handy is from Waukegan, Illinois – the north suburb of Chicago. Now, he lives in Edgewood, Maryland, right outside of Baltimore. He grew up skating and watching his aunts and uncles bop (an older form of what we now call steppin’). He got caught up in the street life and hip-hop scene, and when his nieces and nephews were old enough to show up at the same clubs he thought he’d better find something else to do and somewhere else to go. He started looking for places to bop but he saw everyone doing something totally different than what he grew up watching. Reggie made it to his first class in steppin’ in 2006 to officially learn about an eight count, and here he is ten almost eleven years later.

Who taught you how to step?
I learned my basic foundation from Johnny King in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Johnny and Mykel "DJ Shorty Smooth" used to have a group together and then they branched off and each started doing their own thing. At one of Mykel’s men’s workshops, I met Jeany Bradley from west side Chicago and she started teaching me and Dontae McCoy and Dewitt Walker, my partners from DRD Productions, how to dance. Jeany Bradley and Cliff “Big Slim” Reynolds used to have a class together and they are the ones that taught me how to lead in the dance and how to dance to the music and not just dance to a count.
Why do you have a passion of Chicago Style Steppin’?
I see the life changing force that music and dancing can be in people’s lives. I also see how a DJ, an instructor, this dance and a venue can bring people together from all different types of walks of life and we all blend in together and really start to build all these wonderful friendships that cross gender, economic and culture lines. You have people from down south coming to the Midwest on a consistent basis. People from the east coast go to the south on a consistent basis and vice versa. I think this is something way bigger than us humans going on. And for me being a social worker, this is right up my alley because I am all about building people up and helping people change.
Why did you start instructing?
DRDIf you go 30 minutes south of Waukegan you are on the west side of Chicago and if you go 30 minutes north you’re in Milwaukee, home to DJ Shorty Smooth. In Waukegan there wasn’t a lot of stepping going on, so we came up with this idea to form a group, DRD Productions, to start doing parties in Waukegan. In order for us to do parties we had to build up the stepping community in Waukegan so I would go and take privates. Half the privates would be for learning how to dance and half the private would be learning how to teach.
What is your specialty in instruction?
I can take the basics and make it clear for people whether or not they understand the count or the beat or whether or not someone wants to move their feet in a different direction instead of just doing a regular pattern. I think helping someone understand the basic and making it their own instead of following a specific procedure appeals to some people. I was taught like this. If you ’re messing up on your right turn it’s not really your right turn, it’s something wrong with your basic foundation that makes your right turn not come out right. Everything leads back to your basics. If anyone knows Jeany Bradley, Cliff Reynolds or that pedigree of dancing that they come from or that circle of people that come from the west side like Keisha Reese Boram, Otis Jefferson, Ted Williams, Vicki Henning or Pat Clay, they are the people that poured the dance into us. If your foundation wasn’t right they didn’t have a problem with letting you know and saying “wait a minute you need to get that right.”
What levels do you teach?
I have been teaching all levels since I started being in rotation doing specific workshops on a regular basis – maybe the last 3 or 4 years. I have done workshops on combinations, spins, turns, basics.
How do you inspire your students?
I am a social worker, that’s what I do for a living and I have a Masters in Social Work and I do a lot of speaking engagements. I try to take what I do in social work and public speaking and I do that in workshops to motivate people and encourage them. One thing I don’t do is I don’t try to change the way a person dances. I take what they’re working with and continue to build upon that so a person doesn’t exactly feel they are doing it wrong. I take what they are working with and say try that or try this. It is a lot more encouraging than discouraging.
What do you consider the biggest challenge for new steppers and how do you help them over come it?
When I first learned the eight count I was taught ladies’ left and men’s right simultaneously. One of the biggest things I had a problem transitioning with moving coming from a hip hop, bouncing of the shoulders, skating background into smoothing out the dance and allowing the music to move me instead of a count-so to speak. That is the biggest transition for men. For some reason it seems like the ladies quickly grasp a hold to it for various reasons but men take longer to catch on. The teaching part of the 8 count is the easy part of it, but you can’t teach the love for the dance. Either you got the love for the dance or you don’t.
How do you keep your knowledge of Chicago Style Steppin’ current as the dance evolves and how do you transition that to your students?
When I do get a chance to go home I always make sure I go dancing and go to somebody’s class – Ken Amorio, Charnice Simmons, or DOC whether to help or to ask them to show me how to do this or that. I continue to ask the people I admire or that I have watched. Sometimes I don’t go out to dance, sometimes I go out just to watch. I was in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago and I couldn’t wait for Tall Rick to get on the dance floor so that I can become a student. I just watched his dance, how he moved his feet and how he made the dance about the lady and not so much about him. I believe as an instructor you have to do that because you have a lot of students that are really going after this dance and as an instructor you must have something to feed your students or you must push them in the direction of someone who can feed them if you can’t.
Do you teach ladies?
Yes.
Have you ever competed?
I have never competed at the World’s Largest Steppers Contest but I have competed in the contest that Shorty Smooth used to have in Milwaukee. Shorty Smooth used to have a contest and would go from city to city. He called it the Stepping Idol much like the American Idol. Contestants would compete in different cities and meet back in Milwaukee for a final contest. My advice to anyone looking to compete is to take some days off work during the week and go to some of the smaller places like the Dating Game, the Blue Note, The Pine and just watch some of the dancers there and pay attention. In the contest you have to have showmanship, but showmanship alone isn’t going to win you the contest. You gotta be able to dance and you will see some steppers who you’ll ask who is that? and they have never competed in a contest. The biggest things to understand are what category you are dancing in, what are the rules and what are the judges looking for. Once you get that down and incorporate it into your dance you are on your way. Originality goes a long way.
What do you foresee happening in Chicago Style Steppin’ ten years from today?
Hopefully there’ll be other states that will begin to really grow their community before they go jumping out the door doing weekend events and expecting the outside community to be their biggest support system. Hopefully more people will come to Chicago to learn the dance and participate in the dance other than at the World’s Largest Steppers Contest. And, I think one of the biggest things I would like is for when instructors go to these various cities that they really, really focus in on building up the men. I think that every city is going to be leaving their mark on the stepping community but the best way that we are going to be able to leave our mark in this community is by really pouring this dance into other men. Ladies are taking this dance and doing a lot of good stuff with it and the men are kind of lagging behind so to speak.
When and where will we see you on the dance floor next?
I will be in Chicago October 7,8,9 for DJ Cool Black and Dana White’s event.
Do you have an upcoming event or workshop you want everyone to know about?
DRD Productions hosts our annual Event the Cancer Leo Bash in July Steppin’ in Yellow. I am getting ready to do a joint venture with Gary Brown in Baltimore from “B More Smooth Steppin" to do some impromptu showcases and steppin’ demonstrations at the malls in surrounding and start a class where men will be free for the first couple of classes. We hope to get some new blood interested. I will be working with Gary and the people in the community that already have other classes established.
What is your word of advice to new and beginner steppers?
Find an instructor and stick with that instructor until you learn your basic foundation skill set. There is nothing wrong visiting another class or taking a workshop or private but take what you learn back to your instructor and ask any questions. Add on to what your instructor is already teaching you. Learn your basic foundation with your instructor before you change instructors. Finally, when you take a private, workshop or class, don’t wait until the next class to transition it to your dance, put it to use - go out and dance!