Stepping is an artwork nearly as old as the country itself. As African Americans began forming greek letter organization at colleges 170 years ago, student began building community and creating music with their bodies.
“... and stepping as a percussive dance form created by African-American fraternities and sororities where we use, where the body in a sense becomes an instrument,” says Step Afrika!’s executive producer Brian Willams. “So if you can imagine, uh we use our hands, our feet, our voices and our entire body really to make music.”
Williams founded Step Afrika! and brought stepping to the world 30 years ago. He says many performers apart of Step Afrika are members of divine nine greek letter organizations. Adding that others are professional dancers who bring incredible talent to the stage.
“We’ve recruited lots of D9, Divine Nine members from sororities and fraternities to be a part of the company and represent this art form of stepping all over the world,” says Williams. Adding, “But you know, we also have amazing artists who aren’t in Divine Nine, who have come to Step Africa, uh learned the art of stepping and also brought other skills. So when we hit the stage there, we’re going to not just be doing the traditional style of stepping, we’ll also do the contemporary style, and mix it up with some contemporary and West Africa, South African, I should say, dance forms as well.”
The group stops in Houghton in the middle of a 20-city tour, recently preforming in Chicago.
“When we enter into the theater with Step Afrika, our goal is to turn the stage into a drum and to also encourage the audience to make music with us,” he says. “So I tell all the citizens of Houghton and the surrounding areas, if you come to the show, come ready to have a good time. It’s definitely a show appropriate for families because you don’t have to sit still and be quiet.”
Later in the year step afrika will be featured at the metropolitan museum of art if new york for a two week long showcase.
“We’re Not just introducing this to our fellow Americans, whether they are familiar with the tradition of stepping or not, but all over the world,” Williams said. “We’ve been in like 60 countries introducing stepping to, you know, Croatians, to the Japanese, to the Vietnamese, to South Africans, to Egyptians, I mean, everywhere. So that’s really in our DNA, right, to share this art form.”
Step Afrika! at the Rozsa Center will take the stage on Sunday for a matinee performance. Learn more online. The show begins at 3 p.m. Learn more about Step Afrika! here.
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