[7/27/2010 SteppersUSA Daily News]
Forward Into The Past
By Markie Bee
National Chicago Style Steppers Day
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In May I moved into my 15th year of active involvement in the Chicago style steppers community and since that anniversary I've been reflecting on the changes I've observed and in some cases been involved in. Of course there are many people who have been part of this community many more years than I have been many of the steppers we see that have been long time steppers began shaping this dance when they were in High School.
Some have expressed to me the dance may have well saved their lives because without stepping they are positive they would have taken their lives in another direction.
When we talk about the dance, we often refer to it as a "grown folks dance" but the roots of the modern day dance we call stepping are anything but a "grown folks dance".
There have been and are some efforts to bring stepping to young people, and I've reported on them in this column but getting youth excited about a dance from 40 years ago is challenging at the very least.
One thing that has "stuck in my craw" over the years has been the constant exclamations by steppers from the time before me has been, "they're not stepping the same dance as we did".

 

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Of course that's true, the dance has changed with the times and when you compare the way people stepped "back in the day" to what we do today they are definitely different dances.
We also say the dance is smooth and elegant... we have been saying that for at least the last fifteen years but when we compare what is called Chicago style stepping today with stepping from 15 or more years back you can't call it smooth or elegant. In comparison to other dances done today it's still smooth and elegant, but so is walking down the street.
I've heard many of the most senior steppers (I'm talking about people who have stepped since the '60's Bop and '70's stepping era) that once you go beyond what they did (like changing the cadence of the dance) you're going to have to change the name of the dance.
Well, the cadence changes with each song and much of the music is by no means as smooth as what was popular with the steppers community 40 years ago. Chalk that up to the ever changing styles of music that's popular at a given moment.
These days' steppers embrace some Rapp and Hip-Hop music (the same music many "mainstream artists" refused to accept as music at the time). A lot has changed through the years.
We've made the dance much more complicated than it once was by trying to simplify it in order to teach others. Counting has become a de-facto standard and many steppers never get past the count to come into their own as dancers. We've made the count so important, we've lost that simple method of teaching of "do what I do" that mom's and aunts and uncles and dads used to use when we were younger.
Back to calling it something else... we used to simply call the dance stepping. For various reasons we branded the dance as "Chicago style stepping". The original stepping isn't the same dance as it is today and we know it but we're in denial. The most senior steppers keep saying it but we won't listen. So the dance has branched. There's still the original stepping but today there's also Chicago style stepping... you know that dance with all that counting... which is not the same dance your mom taught you in the kitchen. Today you need to hire an instructor.
Personally, I love both dances and even if you never see me dance, my heart is on the floor with you because the dance stole my heart so many years ago.

What are you doing on August 14th? Please let me know!

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