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. Drew saw the Sherry Gordons and Tracie Bivens Stepping, although he was still primarily into the ballroom and BOP side of the dance. He saw other dancers stepping and decided to go out and mess around with it. A lot of line dances or hustles were Chicago stepping-oriented.
“We danced off beat but still in the 8-count pattern.”
Drewry Alexander
Drew was introduced to Stepping in more of a line dance feel. After a couple of years of seeing it, he was finally taught. Drew’s father was a ballroom instructor. His father and mother saw Drew’s dance potential as early as five. He developed a medley of a dance background as his mom and godmother showed him different hustles, and his father would take Drew to classes with him. Drew knows Stepping and the Bop, Club Style Hustle and Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Greystone, DC Hand Dance, and Swing out. In addition to those dances, he was classically trained in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Modern, Lyrical and African.
What made you fall in love with Chicago Stepping?
The versatility of it. In Detroit, we have a very flamboyant background with our dances- the dips, the tricks, the amazement, the combinations, the turns. All the things we did had that theatrical dramatic sense that sprung out at you. We also had a smoother side too. We could be smooth and dramatic at the same time. How does that work? I don’t know, but we were able to make that happen. When I saw Stepping and got into it, I started noticing how people could still implement all the different things I knew of, such as tricks, tips, combinations, and sweet turns. “Yeah, this is nice.”
I really started to fall deeply in love the moment that I realized I could watch Stepping on YouTube. Every day I came home from school and got straight on the computer to watch Stepping. I knew I caught that bug because I was trying to take in every little piece of every little thing. The versatility of the variations allows me to be smooth, to be wild, or in between.
When did you start, and what made you start competing?
I started stepping at age 13. A gentleman named Walter Jenkins out of Detroit and a few other dancers of the group called The New Dance Totally would host this contest. They were later dismantled. Walter Jenkins would ask my parents if I could compete, and when I was about 15-16 and around 2006, they finally let me do it. Walter Jenkins is now known with Juan Hall of the Midwest affair in Toledo, OH. He was also a part of the group Big Hat Gentlemen in Detroit. He’s been a big promoter in Detroit in the dance community period.
My first time competing, I won three trophies that night for three categories – Ballroom, Chicago stepping, and Trios. That made me say, “Wow, I enjoyed this.” I enjoyed the concept of competing. Because I’ve done recitals and performances before, the concept of dancing in front of people and having that high energy wasn’t new to me. My dad was a ballroom instructor, and I later became a part of his group, Upscale Dance Productions, and I am still an honorary member. This popular Detroit dance group teaches students a minimum of three dances. They host a black tie event, and I started performing with them when I was about 10. I have done a tap performance, ballroom, and whatever dance we decided to do then and performed every year.
They still do annual performances, and they have one called Putting on the Ritz, a live performance dance event. They get together, and people do live performances, and different people pantomime others. It’s a great event; they’re coming back after the pandemic. Performing with them helped me get into the contest field. When I did that first contest, I wanted to do more. Let’s go!
In 2007 I did my next competition. I went to Larry Collins (RIP), who asked my parents if he could take me to Virginia for The Tri-state Connection, a major dance competition. They had all swing dances and a lot of DC hand dancers. This is where I got to see and lead all these different people I used to see on YouTube, like Taboo and Donnie Davis. That was awesome. It was the same weekend as the 2007 World’s Largest Contest and just kind of expanded from that.
Bowling or stepping. Which do you love more?
Dancing is my passion, and bowling is my first love. Dancing is my passion so I would say stepping, but it comes close. I could step all day, but I can’t bowl all day because eventually, my fingers will start to get numb, and then I can’t stay consistent. But when I’m dancing, I can stay consistent for the most part all day.
What do the titles “The Phenom” and “Masters” mean to you, and which do you prefer? –
Let me say all the titles I’ve ever received were given to me. I have never self-proclaimed. Those titles mean a lot to me because people felt strongly that I deserved them. Whether it was from a being judged aspect and they felt I was the best that night, you deserve this title or otherwise. Especially going up against such great and powerful dancers, winning the Masters title was truly a remarkable feeling at that moment and still is.
To be titled Master of a dance that I pay so much homage and respect to by people who’ve been dancing years before I was born … For them to say we have to give you this title because you deserved it, I am honored and grateful. When other people feel that and see that the title is deserved, I truly appreciate that. It means a lot to title me anything that resembles that type of respect.
For a long time, I wouldn’t even call myself The Phenom. That title was given to me by Detroit dancer Tracy Bivens. She gave me that name, and for the longest time, I thought it was nice, but I wouldn’t say it. Now, I like that when I hear Tyk, it is obvious Tyk is a title name, and it has become his name. That’s not his actual name, but everybody knows Tyk as Tyk. And there’s a reason. For the longest it took me. It took me a while to accept a title. Even still, when I say my name, I’m Drew Alexander, the second AKA The Phenom.
My preference is usually based on the person talking to me. Certain people say a certain name to show a certain level of respect. If Aki was here, he would come at me with Master Phenom. It’s special. Some people come to me as the Young Phenom because I am still younger than most of the demographic stepping. I can appreciate that for those people that have known me. Some just call me the Phenom because that’s what they know me as. Mykel has known me forever and calls me Baby Drew. We understand, and because of history, those things kind of stick. I don’t have a preference. Whenever I introduce myself, I’ll always introduce myself as Drew. I appreciate the love of people who have given me titles or reached out to me as my AKAs.
What does It take to become a great dancer?
Discipline. Straight-out discipline. A discipline to physically be able to do what you want and control it. Most importantly, mental discipline is the type of research you put into a dance. What you put in is what you get out. When it comes down to being great at Stepping or any dance, it will take you to train yourself and understand what you want from it. Goals and things like that change.
Goals
At first, it may be I just want to be good enough to dance with people. Then it may turn into, I just want to be good enough to dance with a certain person. Then, I want people to say, “Man, you smooth.” And then goals can turn into something to elevate even further, “I want to be able to compete against Drew one day.” These ideas are people and their goals.
All Around Discipline
What are you doing to get there? Is your plan feasible to obtain? I think it is important that if people want to master Stepping, they know it’s about the type of energy they put into it. I use the term “master” because everybody can master any dance if they put their energy into it. Discipline yourself on the culture and the actual physical understanding, techniques, and other things. Look at the dance from all perspectives – not just from one.
An Open Mind and Appreciation
If you like New School music, learn to appreciate Old School music too because it’ll teach you how to appreciate the newer stuff you like listening to. If you like Old School music, appreciate the New School stuff because you’ll start to feel like some of the newer music is sampled from Old School anyway. I appreciate the older feel that once was new to older steppers. When you listen to Old School music today, that music used to be new to you at one point. Learn how to appreciate that, and then you reciprocate that same love for the rest of it. It’s just about discipline.
Who are some of your favorite dancers you have never seen on the contest stage?
The number one I would like to see on the contest stage is Tall Rick. I want to see him cut up on the floor. My number two, I’ve seen him in videos compete, but I’ve never seen him compete because he stopped competing years ago – Terrance Pratt. I secretly admire him, and I don’t let many people know this because I still try to watch him and steal his stuff. He’s one that I would love to see get on the dance floor and see how he performs with where his dance is now. When I saw him competing in videos before, that was before his style had started to culminate. Now I want to see where he’s at with where his dance is now and see him cut up on the floor.
What qualities do you look for in a contest partner?
Chemistry
I’ve mentioned this before, especially in conversation, but the big one is that I must have a certain chemistry with you. I must feel that when I blank out and go somewhere – where no man has gone – I need to know that you will still hold yours. Sometimes I get in the zone and don’t know what I’m doing. However, I know that because of our chemistry, you know how to vibe off wherever I’m going. Chemistry is a big deal.
Attraction
The other thing that I must have is a form of attraction to you. When I speak about attraction, it doesn’t necessarily have to be in the physical sense, but it must be an attraction of how you make me feel when we dance. It could be a physical attraction. That just furthers my ability to feed into you because I like you giving it back to me visually. Then it’s also that mental thing. I need to feel like we are lowkey in a relationship while dancing because I need to feel like we’re grooving in a different capacity. I need to feel like if my hip did a little roll over here, you’ll feel that and do a little roll over there. If my big toe decided to wiggle, then yours decides to wiggle along with it.
The attraction again comes in where I just need to feel like we’re both into one another. We might not be into each other like that because I have danced with people who are like mentors to me, who are like Big Sisters to me. Still, they have a certain type of attraction because they make me feel great when we dance. I can exude what we have onto the crowd and the judges.
Having the Best Chance to Win
I’ve had people come and ask me to compete, and I have to say this might not be a good feel. If I can’t get into you when I dance with you, that’ll be a disservice to you. One of the biggest things that I think about when I can teach is when it comes to picking my partners. We can’t dance if I don’t feel I have the best chance to win with you, then we can’t dance.
A few years ago, I posted about why people pick their partners. Do you pick them out of obligation? Do you pick them because you are just trying to prove a point? I know some people dance with their significant other because of that significant other. Dancing with somebody else would almost be a betrayal. But you and your significant other might not have the best dance chemistry, and that’s just the honest perspective. There’s a lot of obligation. This person just wanted to dance with me, and they asked me, so I went ahead and said yes. For me, competition is another realm, and there’s no “OK, well, sure. Why not?” I need to know that if we dance, we will win. If I do not feel 100% that we can take it, we can’t dance.
Will there ever be a point when you stop competing?
I’m sure at some point. I’m still very young. I still have a lot to accomplish a lot. As I said, there are many goals to achieve and records to set.
How has winning the Masters in 2021 changed your last stepping year?
Winning the Masters made me more hungry to produce other Masters. Knowing I can’t do it all alone, I want to give people the right tools to build their version of Mastery in this Dance. Also, it has pushed me to want to dance more by bringing others up in competition. Dancing with newer dancers who show potential and want to elevate competitively.
What else do you believe you have to learn and accomplish in Stepping?
This is like the song that never ends – the dance that never ends. What keeps me grounded is that I always believe there’s someone better. There’s always another level to conquer. There’s still much more to learn because I must continue sharpening. There is still a lot more that I can fine-tune.
There’s more in timing that I can be better at, more at being able to communicate with my partner, how to be better at styling, and still more footwork. Can I make my feet faster? Shoot, can I make my feet slower? There’s still control. I can’t tell you how often I felt like I plateaued. I felt like my dances went nowhere, and I had to find the next thing to take me to the next step. Mentally, there’s always someone or something better that has, in a sense, kept me disciplined on maintaining what I have so I can help obtain more. I aim to put a smile on everybody’s face that I dance with.
There is something important that people forget about. Although you might acquire or obtain great things, you must be able to maintain them. Before you can continue to acquire more, you must maintain what you have for there to be more. If not, then there’s a decrease. Where I am in my dance, I must be able to maintain because I can get slower if I don’t maintain discipline. It’s learning to train yourself constantly to maintain what you’re doing so you can grow. Look at bodybuilders. If bodybuilders stop working out, they will lose all they have gained. again.
Dancing is the same. Dancing can be like riding a bike mentally. You might be able to acquire certain motions that are familiar to your muscle memory. But, your muscles are very much a big deal when it comes to balance. What happens if you don’t skate for a long period? After a while, your legs and muscles are not as strong as they used to be. If someone does not dance for a while, they say, “I’m rusty.” When we say these things, that means your muscles have not been worked. Muscles are not just physical muscles in your legs and arms but also the brain muscle.
Drew Gets Personal About His New Weight Loss
Years ago, I used to have people coming to me saying, “You cold as hell! You off the chain for the stuff you do as a big guy!” It’s unbelievable how you do the things that you do. That was one of the things that kept me from wanting to lose weight for a long time. Being a big guy and being able to do the things I could do, was almost unheard of. For me to do the same thing a small guy could do was amazing. I could turn just as quick, just as fast, and be just as nimble in the situation. Carlton Puckett out of LA would say, “Bro! I still cannot understand how you can do the stuff you do and be as big as you are.”
That stuff used to excite me because I used that as my niche. If I can do these things as the big guy, that’s my thing. But then I had to get out of that mindset. Somebody told me, “If you think about what you are doing now – which is off the charts – imagine if you were a few pounds lighter. If you turn as fast as you do now, what would it be like if you were a few pounds lighter? If your feet move as fast as they do now, think how fast your feet move just a few pounds lighter.
Because my goal is always to be better, my challenge to myself is how I can become faster. How can I do things at a better effective rate in my dance? When I started losing weight, I started noticing my dance changing. I was already making this adjustment because as I get older, I become more refined. I started making a lot of different strides. My legs started picking up a lot more, and my motions and how I play started to go some new places.
Now when I watch myself on video, it shows that my discipline to lose weight is heightening my discipline in dance. We talk about discipline. You must understand disciplining yourself is how you become better in the dance. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be the dance you’re disciplining to be disciplined at it. Sometimes it can be something that’s going on in your life. Learning how to deal with those situations and becoming more disciplined help you discipline the love you have in your life.
I’ve taught a couple of workshops about discipline and losing weight. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a weight thing. Learning how to do those things on one side teaches you how to do other things. In my interview with Tika, I mentioned that having a life coach helped me understand things like that.
Subscribe to Chicago Stepping News by eMail from Sonji
Welcome! I am the writer Sonji Stewart. These are my travel stories about my Chicago Stepping experiences, traveling from city to city to dance. I hope my stories encourage you to join me in the adventure.
Get the latest blog post by email because every stepper should be on this email list.
By clicking submit, you accept our terms & conditions. We do not share or sell your personal information.
