When I decided to go to Chicago for the first time to the World’s Largest Steppers Contest (WLSC) in September 2012, Chistepper.com was my key resource to learn about Chicago from a stepper’s perspective. I bought my WLSC tickets, I watched many prelim videos from 2012 and many years before, I researched who I should meet, dance with, and more on Chistepper.com. I’d predetermined that in Chicago the people to ask questions, when I wasn’t sure of something, were the President of Chistepper.com, Terrance Pratt, and Andre Blackwell, President of Dre & Company, the WLSC pre-party co-hosts.
The Chistepper.com brand, to me, had a reputation of trust, safety, and knowledge when I was venturing off alone to Chicago – a city new to me with no familiar faces. I made it a point to meet Terrance Pratt as soon as I got to the WLSC pre-party. Between 2012 and 2020 I have encountered and talked to Terrance Pratt several times, been to his panel discussions in different cities and most importantly, he was my first go-to person when I launched livingthe8count.com and he featured me on chistepper.com.
Terrance was transparent in his discussions about Chistepper.com and what it takes, and he was transparent in his support for new faces doing the right thing. Fast forward to today, Terrance Pratt and Chistepper.com have been treasured resources to me and now something has changed. I had a chance to interview Terrance Pratt to learn more about his motivations and where to next.
A Brief Bio on Terrance Pratt
Terrance Pratt is originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan. He first heard of steppin’ while in college when the movie Love Jones came out in 1997.” It looked like a lot of fun. When I came to grad school in 1999,my then-girlfriend and I decided to try a few classes. I went to 50 Yard Line on a Wednesday night I believe, and I saw Suave Larry from Deja Vu. The dance looked so smooth. The music was incredible. I was in love with Steppin from that moment on. The smoothness and music are what attracted me. 2020 is Pratt’s twentieth year in the steppin’ community because he watched for the first year. He actually started taking classes with Dre and Company in 2001.
The Interview with Terrance Pratt
How did the idea of chistepper.com come about?
There were a few things that birthed the idea. First, Steppin was starting to take off because of R. Kelly’s “Step In The Name of Love” and “Happy People” videos and we were flying all over the nation performing and teaching, and the national Steppin community had a hunger for the dance, but couldn’t get any information on it.
Second, when Steppin took off, a lot of instructors who weren’t really that good in Chicago were going to smaller cities saying they were Master Steppers and were teaching people wrong. So I wanted to provide a place where they knew who the legit dancers were. Lastly, ChiStepper started around the same time as Facebook, Bossip, Media Takeout, etcetera, and I was thinking it would be a great business venture. I wanted to try and make some money. [Laughing] The last part didn’t pan out so well.
We recognize you as a historian and connoisseur in the steppin’ community, how did you earn that recognition?
Well, first of all, thanks. Being called a historian is tricky. It’s easy to be called a historian when you’re studying periods long past when all of the characters have passed on. In Steppin however, the dance is still so young, a number of the true pioneers and historians of the dance are still living. They are the true historians because they lived it. What I did was give them a platform to tell their story. I feel more like a pioneer in Steppin media than a Steppin historian. However, when you hear enough stories and interviews on history, you do pick up a lot of information.
The other side of that is this – if you talk to ten different “Steppin historians” you’re likely to get ten different versions of the history, so I think I was instrumental in trying to make sense of all of the different stories being shared. I wanted to understand what happened in what period, how the count developed, and why the Dungeon ended for example. I think I earned recognition for being consistent, honest, and in most cases, fair. Integrity was always a big deal to me. I never gossiped, posted about people’s personal business, and I did my research before I spoke, and I think the community respected me for that.
Who is someone that you have never interviewed that you would have wanted an opportunity to interview and why?
There are two people actually. The number one person was Ice Ray. He’s my all-time favorite dancer and I love the High Steppin era more than any other era. Plus, he also had an interesting story outside of Steppin, which always makes for a more engaging interview. We discussed it many times, but I could never make it happen. I think he ended up doing an interview with Tracey Bivens for I Love Steppin though, and I was super jealous. [Laughing] Ray definitely should have done that interview with me. [Laughing]
The other person is Black Mary. She’s really the Godmother of the Steppin game. She has so much history and knowledge of Steppin, and she’s so caring and sweet. I finally did get to have a deep conversation with Black Mary on Steppin, but by that time I’d stopped writing for ChiStepper regularly.
What do you believe was your most controversial story and why?
Wow. I had so many. [Laughing] Interestingly, I’d have to say it was an article on George Macaroni’s funeral. I interviewed some people who said some hurtful things about others in the Steppin community and I ended up being blamed for it. It was a bad decision on my part and I learned a lesson from it.
Why did you retire?
I retired for a lot of reasons. #1 – Writing comes from inspiration. No disrespect, because I fully support the dance evolving, but I wasn’t inspired by what I was seeing anymore. #2 – Social media made it where people could share pictures, news, videos, etc before me, so I wasn’t really sharing anything unique anymore. #3 – I really wanted the simplicity of just going out and dancing, and not having to spend 45 minutes of my night talking about a story I’d written or taken pictures of.
It’s funny when I first started coming out I wanted everyone to know my name, and by the time I retired while I appreciate still being recognized, I really wanted to get back to what I loved about this community … STEPPIN! I love to Step. I can literally dance from the time I walk in the door until it’s time to go … drenched in sweat.
Now that you have retired from writing on chistepper.com, do you still have a pulse on the heartbeat of steppin’ and how do you do that?
I don’t have a pulse on Steppin anymore, unfortunately. There are a lot of really cool things happening that I’m not familiar with like the Texas Boys event, for instance. I don’t know the latest songs anymore. I hear names mentioned of dancers on the come up and I don’t know who they are. I’ve really become like the older Steppers I used to admire. I dance at the places I like with the people I like to dance with. [Laughing] I went a lot of places and did a lot of things because of ChiStepper, to support the community and the promoters, but I work a lot now so I only do what I really want to now.
Will the steppin’ community still hear from chistepper.com? Will you continue doing discussions at weekend events?
The quick answer is no. I’ve ended all of my affiliations except for Jewels N Gents. I love Angie Faine and Detra! [Laughing] Everything should end on a high note. I find in the Steppin community people hold on to their titles and accolades forever. I’m a legend, I’m a master. Personally, I feel like I had my moment and now it’s important for me to move aside so people like yourself and Tika, and so many others can have their moment. I’m indebted to the Steppin community. My daughter, my career, and so many other things were fueled by Steppin.
On the other hand, if a special moment is being curated, I’d love to still participate and give back to the dance. I’m more interested in giving back to the dance however I can now. I go to Donnie Davis’ class on some Saturdays to help the new Steppers for free. I really want this beautiful dance to thrive, so whenever I can do my part, I’m down.
Now that you are curating on Instagram, is content from chistepper.com still available to anyone?
No. Unfortunately, I took the website down. I kept it up for people to be able to research the old articles. Believe it or not, even though I hadn’t published a story in months, the site was still averaging like 5,000 unique visitors a month. But I felt that Steppin deserved better than seeing a site that was once great fade into a shell of itself. It was like watching a washed-up boxer fighting past his prime. I wanted ChiStepper to be remembered better than that. I still have all of that content downloaded, but it’s pretty much gone for good.
Do you believe that what and how we are capturing what is happening in steppin’ today will tell the truth about steppin’?
I think it will tell the truth about what is happening in this era. This generation doesn’t seem as interested in the history of Steppin. I’ll put it like this. I grew up in the era where we went outside to play, built bikes from scratch, climbed trees, went fishing, break dancing, and had foot races in the street. The current era likes to have their entertainment curated for them through video games, computer screens, and social media. That’s how I feel about Steppin today.
This generation doesn’t want to go through the pain of learning the history, spending 10 years perfecting your own style and footwork, dancing to both the new and old music, practicing walking, bopping, Man on Man, etc. They want it easy, and for that purpose, they will only be able to tell their story. When I started Steppin, we were accused of learning Steppin the wrong way, but we were encouraged and mentored to go back and understand it the classic way, and for that purpose, we can do a better job of telling the full story of the dance.
In ten years, what do you think steppin’ will look like?
Ha ha ha ha ha! Awe man. It’s going to look exactly like it looks right now … watered down. Most of the true innovators of the dance are in their 50’s and above now. There are a few Steppers, old and new, still carrying the torch but not enough to take us back to the days when Steppin’ was actually a dance you did with your feet! Imagine that! [Laughing]
Thank you Terrance for being candid and for the opportunity for this conversation. Your answers have elicited in me a great sense of responsibility and worry for steppin’. I wish you and Ryan, the best in your new focus and life adventures. Your stories on Facebook continue to inspire me. I am still trying to figure out how am I going to capture myself in a photo with a tiger.
