Dance is powerful, dance is creative, dance is expression. That is exactly what the dance group Step Afrika USA projected an image of as they performed in the Culp Auditorium Tuesday night.
“It was incredible and exciting,” said one student. “Even though I didn’t get to see the whole show, what I saw was well worth it.”
That one opinion represented many of the students that came out to support the event sponsored by ETSU’s Diversity Events Planning Committee, Pan-Hellenic Council, University Productions, Black Affairs Association, International Student Organization and Student Government Association 606 Funding.
“It was interesting and an insightful display of culture,” said Lori Stepp, a sophomore, after seeing the group perform in tribal clothing, stepping and dancing to the beat of drums.
“It taught us unity,” said Jarret Bush a junior. “It also taught us where real stepping originated from and how it was developed in Africa.”
Step Afrika is a percussive dance ensemble based in Washington, D.C. It has been described as a powerful collaborative project between young artists from the United States and the South Africa-based Soweto Dance. The group serves as a leader in arts education, specializing in the history, development and performance of stepping.
For every child that is born there is a parent who gave birth to it, why should it be different in dance? Stepping is a tradition made popular by African-American fraternities and sororities. It is recorded as being traced back to cultural dance traditions in Africa.
SAUSA, which was founded in December of 1996, not only practices stepping but specializes in ritual South African dances such as the Zulu and gumboot, tap, clogging, hip-hop, house and freestyle dancing.
“The Gumboot Dance,” a dance that is closely linked to stepping and the one that is performed most, was created by black South African mine workers who used dance as a social and physical expression.
The dance focused more on precise foot movements and the hand-clapping is what a large percentage of fraternities and sororities base their step movements on today.
The Step Afrika International Cultural Festival is the first known attempt to link stepping and the Gumboot dance together.
The festival, which is an experience that “involves participants in community service, cultural development and international exposure” builds a cultural exchange around the sharing of both experiences.
“Step Afrika breaks down the barriers and long-held stereo types by both communities and builds the kind of cross-cultural communication which crosses national borders,” said an article in a leading South African newspaper.
The show ended with a broadcast of one of the members thanking the audience for coming out to support the group as they “shared traditions we will never forget.”
For more information on Step Afrika USA go to their web site at www.stepafrika.com.

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