[11/18/2009 SteppersUSA Daily News]
What Happened To...
By Markie Bee
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Today's Steppers Beat Column is sponsored by: 50 + Classic Steppers Every 1st & 3rd Wednesday at Chez Roue located at 5200 W. Chicago Ave. Chicago, IL from 5pm to 11pm.
This time last year, Chicago was gearing up for the CSC steppers convention, a collaborative venture between three steppers clubs. Although steppers came from all parts to participate and most had their fill of stepping fun you'll notice there is no CSC steppers convention this year.
In November last year, I called 2008 a year of change for the Chicago style steppers communities. I wrote that article based on the articles I wrote the prior year where I said, "Steppers promoters, Instructors are all over the map (both literally and figuratively). Mind you, I am the very last person to suggest anyone remove a single vestige of individuality or creativity from any aspect of the dance (or the business of the dance).
Consider this basic truth, dancers dance. They will dance no matter what or where. In their own right they are artists. Generally speaking, artists do not make the best business persons when it comes to their art. They are better at improvising and performing as individuals, couples, or trios.
Admit it or not, when it comes to stepping, the camp is divided... I'm not speaking about 6 count versus 8 count, or old skool versus new skool. I'm referring to advertising and promotion (A & P) (the business end of stepping) on a local and national basis.
There is absolutely no consistency to the public face of stepping. The fact is a united front is needed on every level of the business end of stepping. Just like many franchising business do, there is a need for a national advertising and promotion co-op. If real growth is desired, a consistent appearance and direction in A & P is the key. This needs to be a collaborative venture as no single organization should

 
 

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ever have the clout or control over this.
It's important to note I'm not trying to make every steppers venue and everything in stepping the same like every McDonalds is the same across the nation. It would be beneficial if the packaging (A & P) of the dance was as consistent and as recognizable as a Big Mac."
In the 2008 article I said, "There are many efforts that have fired and misfired in 2008 on the A&P front, but one effort to "unify" seems to be working this year.
I was referring to the CSC steppers convention. On the surface, as I mentioned earlier, it was successful for the participants. The question remains was it a success for the promoters?
Another "home run" in the A&P front came about from the Best of Both Worlds new workshop model. They included the workshops in the price of the total package. This model worked very well in the "Stepping underserved" East coast where people are starving to add Chicago style stepping to their dance repertoire. It was a win - win for everyone involved. Instructors had lots of people there to teach, students either learned the basics, or if they were more advanced, they expanded their dancing tool sets through sharing. This works and those who want to make money actually make money, and those who want to learn the dance actually learn the dance. There was no Best of Both Worlds in 2009 either.
Interestingly, some things don't change… In the same article I wrote, "Everything didn't work on the A&P front this year, for example many of the contests were not well accepted by the steppers community, which is sad, but the problem (in my opinion) is some of the contests were ahead of their time in concept, and some were past their time, and generally ill-conceived concepts that didn't work because of poor A&P implementation and a variety of other factors."
I need to point out the genre still (It did in 2008 and does in 2009) lacks a unified campaign... A set of advertising tactics everyone can focus on presenting to the public. Every promoter has their own way of promoting their events, (usually to those who already know about the dance), but a formula must be created to be able to promote to the rest of the public. Think about it, every successful campaign has some sort of base theme... For example; "Got Milk?", "I want to be a Toys R Us Kid", "Vote for Change", and for those of you in Chicago, "588-2300 Empire". Every one of those campaigns is immediately recognizable. The closest we come... is the song, "Step to the Name of Love" but how old is the song now? (Many steppers hate the song at this point) From time to time some promoters happen on a "catch phrase" which they use and most of the time they throw it away (or just use it once a year for an annual event). The need to catch the imagination of the public is very real.

 

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