Reading Time: 12 minutes Drewry “Drew” Alexander has been stepping going on for nineteen years. Being from Detroit and a part of an urban ballroom community, he was exposed to many dances within the Detroit culture. Stepping was one of many dances he saw in the community. People were Stepping, although it was the early days of the dance….
Reading Time: 10 minutes The best part of Chicago Stepping to me is that it can be a lifelong hobby. No matter when you start stepping you can continue to learn and grow for decades. If you are someone who is fortunate to learn Chicago Stepping as a child you may step for forty-plus years like many of the…
Reading Time: 6 minutes What I will remember about the 2022 World’s Largest Steppers Contest are the resurgence of dancers, the familiar pattern of winners but other emerging contestants, the coincidental opulent fashion on stage, and the buffering social media broadcasts. More than 80 Contestant Couples on the Contest Program Going by the contestants’ list Pete Frazier published after…
Reading Time: 8 minutes When steppers decide to enter the World’s Largest Steppers Contest, one of the most critical factors they can control as a contestant is at least one of the songs they dance to on stage. They hope the DJ picks the song they want to dance to or, better yet, plays more than one of the…
Reading Time: 13 minutes Over years of conversations, I understand that steppers have different opinions and feelings towards the proliferation of Chicago Stepping. People are worried, joyful, excited, opportunistic, regretful, and enthusiastic. Steppers all react differently when we talk about Chicago Stepping in communities outside of Chicago. Inquisitively, I talked to Dave Maxx – one of the instructors from…
Reading Time: 13 minutes Conversations in cities across the Chicago Stepping community in 2021 about the NOADWBP hashtag created by Will Barnes in Chicago caused quite a stir. It seemed that a fellow out of Columbus, Ohio – Aki “Columbus Keyz” Carter, who hosts the Red, White, and Smoove weekend event, was getting a lot of credit and heat…
Reading Time: 6 minutes As far as the Mega Weekend in Miami goes, if you went to Miami without the intention of having fun in the sun, you should have stayed home. When it comes to having a good time at a weekend event, nothing is going to stop a true stepper. The Mega Weekend hosted by GDIGents in…
Reading Time: 7 minutes GDIGENTS or RWS. How Will Steppers Decide? In the last sixty days of my birthday travels to steppers events, many people have asked me about two specific events. “Are you going to Miami?” “Are you going to Red, White and Smoove?” “Those events are back-to-back weekends. Right?” Deciding which event to go to in Miami…
Reading Time: 12 minutes PART 2 Did you achieve what you set out to do with Stepaganza? I believe we succeeded. There were two things that I wanted to do with Stepaganza. I wanted to give the Stepping community an honor system because there are a lot of people standing in the shadows of Stepping that laid the foundation….
Reading Time: 10 minutes When Iary “Kat N Tha Hat” Israel announced that 2022 was the Final Chapter for the Stepaganza event in St. Louis, I had several questions. First, is it the right year to end Stepaganza during what seems to be a monstrous resurgence of Chicago Stepping post-pandemic? Second, has Iary Israel accomplished everything he set out…
Reading Time: 12 minutes If I see only a silhouette of her feet, hands, and body moving while she is dancing behind a curtain, I know exactly who Tori Tannette is. Her personal style stands out on any dancefloor, and she is a force to reckon with every time she hits the contest stage with her partner. Her show-stopping…
Reading Time: 9 minutes When I met Rose Wellington at the 50 Yard Line a couple of years ago, she handed me a flyer inviting me to her steppers set. Every time I have seen her since then she’s greeted me with a huge hug and a smile. Little did I know, Rose is one of Chicago’s biggest party…
Reading Time: 6 minutes When someone can start a trend and influence others to believe in their idea, this is history in the making. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, there is a new trend making waves for weekend event experiences – stepper silent parties. When I first experienced a silent party hosted by Carla and thought…
Reading Time: 12 minutes Introducing Gina Ellis Gina Ellis was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. After graduation from Eastern Michigan University where she was a Physical Education Major, Gina moved to New York. She knew she wanted to teach dance, but being on the gymnastics team in college took her away from dance. Her move to New York…
Reading Time: 6 minutes When I first met Hollywood Frank he surprised me with a question. “Do you know who you were named after?” Not many people know who she is until I tell them but he already knew. Hollywood Frank reminisced about times he saw Sonji Clay, Muhammad Ali’s first wife, at the 50 Yard Line Sports Bar….
Reading Time: 4 minutes Finally, spring is almost here and the world is ready to dance. We are jumping with excitement because we’re getting back on the wood! It looks like slowly but surely we may see glimpses of the light at the end of the tunnel for COVID. Many instructors across the United States have restarted Chicago stepping…
Reading Time: 3 minutes I made a quick stop at the beauty supply store before hitting the steppers set. I was on my way driving to the Atlanta area only minutes away finally. While in the beauty store, I heard loud music pumping through the walls. The lady next to me exclaimed, ”They are having a hell of a…
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s a week later and I am still coming down off the high from StyleMasters Chapter IV in Norfolk, Virginia. Nyce Entertainment hosted the event on the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend. The StyleMasters event was hosted at a new hotel location – the Norfolk Waterside Marriott at the heart of the downtown district. Foodies…