I made a promise to myself to visit Chicago this year on a week when there was no World’s Largest or major event going on in the city. So said, so done. I spent five days in Chicago in the middle of March and there is so much to say about that time. During my trip, I had a chance to sit and talk with Michael “West Side Mike” Bush.
I met Ronnie B in Atlanta for the first time and I had been exposed to his music from videos I had watched on YouTube. It is hard to forget watching this man and his beautiful wife Ronda steppin’ in his music videos. You can hear most of his music on his albums, Hopeless Romantic, So Mental, or Get Away and see his videos on YouTube. In Atlanta I hear his music quite often played at Ms. Mary’s Saturday Set.
In one of the first workshops I attended, while watching me do the basic eight count my instructor asked me “what is with all the hip movement?” I said I used to do salsa so that is probably why I do that. She said, “Kill that! This is steppin’ not salsa.” Early on I struggled with doing too much too early and being over eager to make a different statement than what people wanted to see. Even now, six years later, I still feel I struggle with treading a thin line to make the dance my own. If you can relate, this article may be for you as well. It was refreshing to hear the point of view of someone who changed the game in Chicago Style Steppin’ regardless of what anyone else said or told him to do – Andre Blackwell.
In one of the first workshops I attended, while watching me do the basic eight count my instructor asked me “what is with all the hip movement?” I said I used to do salsa so that is probably why I do that. She said, “Kill that! This is steppin’ not salsa.” Early on I struggled with doing too much too early and being over eager to make a different statement than what people wanted to see. Even now, six years later, I still feel I struggle with treading a thin line to make the dance my own. If you can relate, this article may be for you as well. It was refreshing to hear the point of view of someone who changed the game in Chicago Style Steppin’ regardless of what anyone else said or told him to do – Andre Blackwell.
In one of the first workshops I attended, while watching me do the basic eight count my instructor asked me “what is with all the hip movement?” I said I used to do salsa so that is probably why I do that. She said, “Kill that! This is steppin’ not salsa.” Early on I struggled with doing too much too early and being over eager to make a different statement than what people wanted to see. Even now, six years later, I still feel I struggle with treading a thin line to make the dance my own. If you can relate, this article may be for you as well. It was refreshing to hear the point of view of someone who changed the game in Chicago Style Steppin’ regardless of what anyone else said or told him to do – Andre Blackwell.
When someone that really owns his OCD tendencies proudly, LC Henderson, and an analyst, me, get together to talk about Chicago Style Steppin’, there can be magic and revelation in the numbers. Well, it was for me when I had a chance to sit with LC in Atlanta, pick at his brain and open my mind to a new way to look at the building blocks of this dance. If you are inquisitive about the logic behind the 8 count, LC is the one with the answers. I had to share this experience because it has helped me immensely to understand what it will take for me to graduate myself from a beginner to an intermediate stepper.