When I set out for the conversation with First Lady Maddy B Haywood of De Ja Vu I was thinking about line dancing and how it fits with Chicago Stepping culture. Our talk went meant much deeper and I discovered Maddy B’s passion for social media, her contest and travel experience with Stepping Greg and more. It’s a special story to share. Let’s talk about Maddy B Haywood.
Who Is Maddy B
Madaline Maddy B Haywood is from the Southside of Chicago. She moved to Englewood with her parents when she was two years old and she still owns that same house today. Maddy B knows the bop that old folks did and can still do it now. She enjoyed the Stepping scene because it was her social scene but she was doing her own thing for a while until she started learning to step to compete with Stepping Greg in the 1990s.
“As my friend Lock would say, I am a dancer. I love it all. I love line dancing because I can do it without a partner. I love Stepping because I can do it with a partner. Different facets interest me. I was introduced to Chicago Stepping because my sister was an old time stepper. When we went out to the mature sets, I knew there was going to be some Stepping there. Years ago, at Mr Ricky’s, I think, I went on Thursday nights and in the back there was always a Stepping party.”
Maddy B
The Social Setting of the Stepper Set
For Maddy B, Stepping started as her social setting and all the people she knew socially were there. She took a break and started going to church, but then her sister got her out again and heading to The East of the Ryan. At East of the Ryan they would see pluggers on the tables and scoop them all up and push pin them to the wall to know what parties they wanted to go to next.
When Maddy found a contest partner in Stepping Greg, she really had to learn what stepping was instead of doing her own thing. She remembers seeing Stepping Greg and thinking if she ever could just dance with him, she would have made it. Stepping Greg and Maddy B competed and placed second in the World’s Largest Steppers Competition in 1995. She fell in love with Stepping.
“Stepping is such a beautiful dance when it is done right. The chemistry that you see with one person to another is an art. I can see some people and get mesmerized in the dance. When something you see does that to you, you can’t help but love it. When someone, with just your hand can make you doing something and not say anything to you, it’s an art form. Watching that is like admiring a Picasso – the same thing.”
Maddy B
Let’s Get This Party Started
Herb Kent booked Stepping Greg for his events and stepper sets and Maddy B and Beverly worked for him as party starters. Party starters would teaching party patrons how to dance. They would take turns pulling people from the audience up on the dancefloor. They were paid to do this to start the party. This was an opportunity for them to get paid to do what they loved to do. It was amazing.
The World of Possibilities with Social Media
Maddy B’s inclination to socialize and to love being around people extended to her online experience when social media became very popular. When Maddy B joined Facebook in 2009 she did not know anything about social media, but she recognized its promise.
“On Facebook I saw all the possibilities of talking to all these people at any given time.”
Maddy B
When she went out to parties, she took her Sony camera and take pictures. She would go home, stick her card in her Mac computer and it would automatically load the photos to Facebook. People would say, “Oh Lord, Maddy gonna have us on Facebook before we get home.” and it was true. She may not say she was the original one uploading photos to Facebook, but no one really knew about that capability back then.
When I upload to Facebook, a lot of it to me now, is letting people know what’s possible. Some people don’t see the possibilities of life unless they see somebody else doing it. A lot of what I post now. I want people to know it’s possible to do all that. You want to ride a bike, you can ride a bike. Some people reach out and say Maddy B you were live in one city yesterday and now you are on another coast going live from another city. I try to do it for more of inspiration than bragging on anything.
Maddy B
The Impact of Social Media on Chicago Stepping
For Maddy B, social media had a great impact on Chicago Stepping because it let’s people know that Chicago Stepping exists.
We’ve always stepped. Stepping didn’t go away for a lot of us. That’s all we did. We had parties downtown. It didn’t go away.
Maddy B
Social media has brought Chicago Stepping to where the masses can see it. When the masses see stuff they want to do it. Now, people who have never taught dance in their life are trying to be an instructor. And, they can go all over the country and outside of the country to teach Stepping. People want to step because they saw it on social media. Social media had a good impact.
The little small things that go on with social media – like putting personal business out there – is just something that happens. No one has to put their personal business on social media, and if someone chooses to, do you. Sometimes it is our entertainment. I wish Team Petty would come back because it was terrible and entertaining at the same time for us. There are no downsides. People are learning this partner dance from all over the world.
Maddy B Starts Line Dancing
Years ago, when Maddy B was a young girl she traveled around with Charlie Green, the CTA driver in Chicago who invented The Bus Stop. Pete Frazier also brought a line dance from California called Super Bad. Then when she could not get Chuck Baby, she quit skating to take line dance classes in Indiana on Thursdays to learn Chuck Baby. She bargained with the instructor to reschedule teaching Chuck Baby later in the class so that she could catch it after driving an hour from downtown Chicago to the class. Chuck Baby became one of her signature dances and they played it on the set.
Traveling to Teach Line Dancing Workshops
Starting with only four line dances, Maddy B was afraid people would find out and they would think she was a fraud. Yvette White in New York told her, “You gotta come with some new line dances. We already got all of those.” She told her girlfriends online and they sent her some easy line dances and then she really started teaching. It has evolved and she never thought in a million years she would have a line dance class with 65 ladies in it. She has done line dance workshops at The Heritage Ball, Black & Bling, Stepaganza, and Denims and Diamonds to name a few. Maddy B has received a Stepaganza Lifetime Achievement Award for her work.
Maddy B says she cannot see a stepping event happening without any line dancing. “I never go to a party that does not play line dances.” Ladies and gentlemen dressed well, bought new shoes, got their hair done, and sometimes sit there all night because they don’t know anybody. Line dances are the chance to give everyone the chance to get up and dance and have a good time.
Some Points on Line Dancing from Maddy B
Line dances are for men and women
Some of these line dance events are like steppers events. The ratio is 10 women to 1 man. Most of the men will do a complicated dance not the baby dances. You will not catch me at line dance parties. I don’t do anything I cannot teach on the floor. At a stepper set, they want to get the maximum from a line dance break. If it is complicated they just won’t do it.
Line dancing as a part of Stepping culture
Having line dancing on the steppers set was a fight Maddy B took on years ago. It may not be all because of her but it was a fight she picked. Why did they always wait until after the intermission or midnight when everyone is gone or right before House Music to play a line dance? Line dancing gives the men a rest because they have been dancing and are soaking wet and still ladies are grabbing them for a dance before they walk off the floor. That was the basis for me to petition for the DJs to play more line dances.
Some said to me, “If it ain’t on the plugger it don’t have to happen.” After a lot of work, now people know that when Maddy is on the stepper set they will play a line dance. In her contracts for events she requests that they play the line dances before 10 p.m. Now, they play 3 or 4 at a time. Before it was only 1 or 2.
One rule for dance floor when line dance is happening.
Always face the DJ to start.
Where to see Maddy B Next
- Monday mornings with the Seniors at the Museum of Science and Industry
- African Festival of the Arts in Chicago
- The Black Women’s Expo
- Thursdays at Hero’s Sports Bar & Grill, 7-9 p.m.
- Denim and Diamonds – September 2024 – Bloomington, MN
- Maddy B’s 65th birthday party – 7/5 at Tinley
