"One-two-three, four-five-six -- basic," Veronica Austin calls to the line of beginners stepping shoulder to shoulder in a downstairs strip-mall studio.
Wearing looks of serious concentration, they follow Austin's simple-but-sophisticated motions, which entail a lot of hip swings and cha-cha-like footwork accented by 360-degree turns.
"Up and back ... side to side ... full turn ... cross ... turn and step back ... cross one more," Austin commands.
The students are learning "Chicago steppin'," also known as "Chicago style steppin'." Costing $5 per session, the class meets from 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at It's Your Move Fitness Studio, 12th Street and University Avenue in Little Rock.
Students wear matching purple T-shirts with gold lettering; a few of the women wear their shirts fashionably ripped and fringed. Some are in high-heeled dress shoes, including Austin.
Ted Williams, a master instructor from Chicago, leads the men, then the women, through a long row of short, orange safety cones -- miniature replicas of those on highway construction sites -- laid out as if for an agility drill. Each student must zigzag deftly through the cones while counting steps and switching hips.
Their line makes an impressive picture as they follow one another single file to motivating music.
"One-two-three, four-five-six, seh-ven-eight," they count. They go back through, the count changing -- "One-two-three, four-five-six" -- with more complicated steps and turns.
A graceful, elegant partners' dance that originated within the black community in the city for which it's named, Chicago steppin' dates to the early- to middle 20th century and is known as having its roots in the dance style called bop. The name steppin' has been applied to the dance form since the early 1990s. At Steppershistory.org, it's described as "a social dance done in time to music that occurs on a steady recognizable 'downbeat.' The basic dance step is to a six- or eight-count beat.
"The ability to take steps to the downbeat and still come back in time with your partner is widely accepted as steppin'," the website continues.
Other sources connect steppin' to styles known as the cakewalk, the ring shout, the jitterbug and swing.
FANCY FOOTWORK
Steppin' was highlighted in R&B singer R. Kelly's 2003 hit "Step in the Name of Love," a song that inspired a line dance. Another steppin' tune, "Happy People," followed in 2004.
It has evolved over time and developed
variations, including "old-school" and "new-school" versions.
But only during the past few years has it taken off in central Arkansas, enthusiasts say.
The class at It's Your Move makes up the Little Rock arm of Steppers Around the World, an informal regional group of steppers that also has members in Oklahoma and Texas.
Little Rock residents Brenda Williams, 60, and her husband, Michael Williams, 61, have been steppin' for about 2 1/2 years.
"At the gym where we worked out, they offered the class there," Brenda Williams says. A friend invited her to a practice session. "And I encouraged [Michael] to come."
"They said they needed some men," Michael Williams chimes in. He had not danced before. "My wife is a dancer, so it's easy for her. Me, I have to work at it."
They enjoy the fact that steppin' is something they can do as a couple -- "nice clean fun," Brenda Williams says. "Exercise is good for us at this age. And it's a beautiful dance."
STEPPIN' IT UP
La'Portia Jackson, 30, of Maumelle, is the millennial in tonight's group. She's wearing her dancing shoes ... a pair of black, very tall platform stilettos.
Jackson used to do a little salsa dancing, but this is her first heavy foray into partner dance. She joined the class in August "and I've been enjoying it ever since."
Trying to follow the men's leads and stay on beat can be challenging, she says. "But I know the more I do it, the better I get at it."
The handful of musical numbers looped during the class are different genres -- R&B, big band/jazz, rap, hip-hop -- united by a steppin'-friendly tempo. At one point, horns wailing above a heavy bass line, all the men pair up with some of the women, twirling them around, twirling themselves.
Couples come together, separate, circle each other. Dancers then line up to do the same moves. Twirl around, twirl around again, kick.
Duos transition to trios, as Ted Williams demonstrates with two of the women. "One-two-three, four-five-six, seven-eight, and turn ...." He spins both female partners, then moves one woman to the center of the trio with a second twirl, taking her hand and maneuvering it around his neck as she comes out of the twirl. "Guys, go under," he instructs, describing the move. He demonstrates again.
This class has existed for three years, says Austin, a six-year stepper. In 2010, she says, she went to an event in Memphis. "I felt like a fish out of water because I couldn't do the dance. Everybody was steppin'."
She began traveling to Memphis to attend classes. Eventually she tired of the drive, decided to begin a class in Little Rock and reached out to seasoned instructors. Williams agreed to come to Little Rock -- "and he's been here ever since," Austin says.
When he moved to Little Rock, Williams says, he realized he had a bit of a job on his hands. "Only maybe two or three were dancing a little bit already," he says. "But it didn't take that long, because they started catching on real quick."
The new steppin' enthusiasts include another set of Williamses -- Maumelle chiropractor Rodney Williams, 41, and his wife Nina, 44.
"With us going in separate directions with the other organizations that we're in ... I figure this is something we can do together," Nina Williams says.
The challenge of learning the dance actually helped the couple communicate better, she adds.
Rodney Williams praises steppin' as "a light gentle exercise" and "a good stress reliever as well ... without being too strenuous -- [it's] easy on your joints and so forth."
STEPPIN' THROUGH TIME
Although the class is mostly baby boomers or Generation X-ers, steppin' is for all ages, Williams says. Children age 6 to 14 are welcome.
So are adults as mature in years as 74-year-old Kathy Dancy.
A Little Rock resident, she learned steppin' during visits to her sister in Chicago. "When they started steppin' here I started coming here," she says of the class. "I just love dancing, and it's very addictive."
For dancers who like travel, there are plenty of chances to step elsewhere.
In any given month, Austin says, some city with a steppers' community is hosting a three-day steppin' meet. "You can travel every month. You really can travel every weekend, especially to Chicago."
Little Rock class members would soon head to an event in Louisiana, then to Dallas the weekend after and, in February, Atlanta. "It's fun going out of town where you get to dance with other guys from other cities," Dancy says.
Brenda and Michael Williams enjoy watching other groups perform routines, and they learn new moves during workshops given by instructors that hail not only from Chicago but from other big cities. (There are steppin' competitions, topped off by the World's Largest Steppers Contest held in Chicago.)
In August, steppers will converge on Little Rock for the annual Krush & Kreme ... A Steppin' Affair, with the theme colors red and cream.
The first Krush & Kreme, in 2015, "was just a fluke because we normally go to Memphis to their event, in July," Austin says. "They canceled. And so we were just like, 'Well, let's try it.' So we threw everything together on short notice, and it came together. It was a nice turnout."
They decided to do it again the next year -- changing the month to accommodate the Memphis event, which made a comeback. Ted Williams says the first Krush & Creme drew about 150; the second year, about 300.
"So we're expecting a good 500 this time" -- Aug. 25-27.
LINE DANCE TOWN?
Recruiting steppers in a community where line dancing rules remains the challenge.
"Most [people] say, 'I don't have a partner,'" Austin explains. "We say, 'You don't have to have a partner to learn this dance.'" At steppin' classes and events, "the guys know that the women are going to outnumber the men, so they know they're going to [have] a busy night" making sure all the women have a turn on the floor.
Instructors and students see steppin' continuing to catch on.
"If you can count to eight, you can learn to step," Dancy says. "You're not too old to step .... If you like dancing, you can learn to step. And once you get started, you can't stop."
ActiveStyle on 01/30/2017