Step Afrika! draws crowd with culture

Step Afrika! drew a large crowd at UW Tacoma on Wed., Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the William W. Philip Hall. The free event was co-sponsored by the Student Activities Board, the Black Student Union, the Hip Hop Dance Crew, the Latin Dance Club, Student Affairs, and Student Involvement. "[It] brought a lot of people from the community, especially high school students. [It] shows off the campus to prospective students," BSU President Bryan Neal said. It was a night full of high energy and excitement. Some students even stopped to see the performance in between classes. "I came here for eight minutes. I had to come to see this," Linsey Singleton, a Social Work major, said. Performances by UWT students kicked off the event. Cruz Credle, ASUWT President, warmed up the audience with the recitation of two poems that he had authored. Credle was followed by Latin Dance Club President Ruby Tiburcio. Through her Latin dance performance to three choreographed songs, she got the crowd moving and clapping along. The next group to perform took to the floor to dance to a mixture of hip-hop tracks. This group was Kontagious, a dance group from Lynwood, WA, who were invited by the Hip-Hop Dance Crew. After the performers warmed up the crowd, Step Afrika! took the stage. The group consisted of seven dancers. The audience immediately started clapping. Step Afrika! welcomed the audience and told a brief history about the founding of the group. Step Afrika!, which is based in Washington D.C., was founded in 1994, became the first professional dance company dedicated to the dance form of stepping. Stepping is a highly energetic dance form pioneered by African- American college students. It has had a long history in African-American fraternities and sororities. Step Afrika! incorporates high kicks, feet stomping, and intricate rhythmic movements. Besides drums, the group does not use musical instruments, but instead uses their bodies as instruments through clapping their hands and stomping their feet. The group tours throughout the U.S., often stopping at universities. Step Afrika! visits fifty campuses annually. They also tour the world, serving as cultural ambassadors. During their performance, a little competitive challenge was held between the men and ladies of Step Afrika!. The audience decided the winner by clapping as loud as possible for the group they favored. The men won the first round, while the ladies prevailed in the second. Throughout their performance, Step Afrika! encouraged audience participation by having audience members clap their hands and stomp their feet to create musical sounds. They even invited audience members to get up on the stage to learn a few of their dance moves. Twelve brave audience members were taught step-by-step by two Step Afrika! dance crew members for about five minutes. One audience member who got up on stage was Cheri Hans, a UWT Global Studies student. "I love dancing. I was ready to do more," she said, adding that she liked the audience participation. In another crowd-pleasing sequence, the performers donned African clothing and danced to drum music. This dance gave the audience a feel of a traditional African village as similar kinds of dancing are traditionally linked to the celebration of birth as well as other rituals in African tribal life. Another dance that Step Afrika! incorporated was the South African gumboot dance. This dance was originally performed by mine workers who imitated certain moves from officers who guarded the mines. The dance is performed in rubber boots to create a unique sound. The dance motions integrate quick feet movements with the slapping of hands on legs and feet. Step Afrika! ended their performance with a simple message to all students: "Just finish." Jamie Glaze, former BSU Secretary and founder of GRIPS (Girls Reclaiming Individual Purpose in Society), which encourages middle school to high school young women to reach academic goals, said that she was happy that "they ended with promoting education, saying finish. We try to press that message onto them, and that's the reason we bring them here, too: To show them that campus has a lot of good things going on so, that they are inspired." She added, "I liked everything that they did; I like how they connected the genres of dance." Step Afrika! member Ryan Johnson said, "Step Afrika! brings a lot of messages." Johnson summed it up by saying, "Teamwork, commitment, and discipline, that's what it's all about." Visit www.stepafrika.com/home.htm to find additional information about Step Afrika!.