Learning to get in step
STEPPING is a century-old tradition of dance performed by African American fraternities and sororities in which teams compete in rhythmic, precision dance moves.
“It originates from the African tribal dance,” said Will Packer, the Atlanta-based producer of “Stomp the Yard,” a film opening Friday that revolves around step dancing.
“As part of the initiating process for these organizations you have to step,” Packer said. “It forces you and your line brothers and line sisters to perform as one unit. You can never leave your brother or sister behind. You are one. Stepping is such a precise series of movements that if one person is off, it throws off the whole rhythm and beat. You have to learn to trust the person in front of you and you have to start to operate as a unit.”
Though he never stepped himself, Packer is steeped in the world of African American fraternities -- both he and his father were in a fraternity at Florida A&M; University.
Stepping, he added, “is big ... but in the southeast it is, like, rabid.”
Columbus Short, a former tour choreographer for Britney Spears, Ashanti and Brandy, stars in “Stomp the Yard” as DJ, a troubled teenager from Los Angeles who dances in underground clubs. After his brother is killed in a fight, his moves to Atlanta where his aunt and uncle live to attend True University.
Shortly after his arrival, two rival fraternities catch him doing his kinetic hip-hop moves at a club and vie to have DJ on their stepping teams in time for the annual championships called Stomping the Yard.
Short, who toured between the ages of 17 and 19 as an actor and drummer in the Broadway dance show “Stomp” before he learned to dance, said stepping is different than other forms of dancing.
“Dancing is the visual personification of music and stepping is the musical personification of music and dancing. It’s a sound, a rhythm. It is more about getting people’s rhythms together more than preparing people physically for stepping.”
“Stomp the Yard” marked the first time choreographer Dave Scott has been involved in step dancing. “It’s all rhythmic and energetic and exciting, as well.... I added a different element to it as well which is hop-hop, which takes it to another level of energy. It’s kind of like I became a composer. I mixed the two different worlds and added whole different elements and excitement to it.”
Before he even began choreographing the dance numbers, he brought in Jesus “Chuck” Maldonado, a former fraternity stepper as well as a hip-hop dancer, not only to be his associate but also to teach him about the history of stepping.
Maldonado and producer Packer, said Scott, “gave me the knowledge of the whole entire world. I had to learn everything about the organizations and stepping before I started to change everything.”
Scott also wanted dancers instead of steppers for the film. “That gave me a little more versatility,” he said. “I was not cornered because a lot of steppers just step.”
Scott conducted a step boot camp a month before filming began last year.
“We probably did 500 push-ups and sit-ups every day,” said Short. “Everyone was eating really healthy.”
The purpose of Scott’s boot camp was not just to get his dancers in shape, but also have them form a connection akin to those of the fraternities and sororities.
DURING boot camp, the dancers who were members of the two fictional fraternities formed a unique bond, not unlike that on a real fraternity or sorority step team.
“They helped each other out,” said Scott. “So they started picking each other up and helping each other.”
During dance rehearsals, Scott also kept the two groups separated, so they didn’t see each others’ routines until the filming. The result was that both groups became fiercely competitive during the climatic competition dance sequences.
“The competitive mode was on,” said Scott. “It was ridiculous.”
Short pointed out that there were no dance doubles used in the film.
“So you have no barriers or restraints,” he said. “Everyone was really dancing and going all out. The dance days were the funnest. You had 300 and 400 extras and everyone is excited.”
One of the film’s most exciting moments is when the two competing fraternities tie and must perform an exhilarating dance-off.
“We never rehearsed that,” said Short. “We knew that was in the movie, but we weren’t prepared. There was some kind of miscommunication of what we were supposed to do.”
So the director, Sylvain White, went to Short and the lead dancer in the other group and asked them to choreograph something quickly.
“Ten minutes later, we just went for it,” said Short.
The actor-dancer hopes that “Stomp the Yard” will energize young African Americans to focus on education. “It’s becoming cool to dumb yourself down and college is not even a thought anymore,” Short said.
“We are afforded an opportunity to go to college and everybody wants to rap or play basketball for the quick money.”
“Stomp the Yard,” he hopes, will show that “college is about education, but also a lifelong brotherhood and family.”
