Dancers to Groove in Isles

African step dancing troupe coming to the Isles
Date	February 14, 2013
Section(s)	Our Town
Byline	By LINDSEY ADKISON The Brunswick News
The dancers of Step Afrika put on quite a show. And, come Friday, they will be bringing their moves to the Golden Isles. Based in Washington, D.C., the professional step dancing group will be traveling to the College of Coastal Georgia in Brunswick where they have a performance slated for Friday. The group's founder and executive director Brian Williams is certainly looking forward to the trip South, where the dancers hope to entertain as well as teach. "Step Afrika is the first professional company of step dancers in the world. This is our 19th year performing and teaching ... not only by performing and preserving (step dancing) but also using it as a motivational tool for students," he said. Those students come in a variety of ages from the elementary level to college, where stepping was originated. "We love bringing our performances to college students and campuses, which was the place where stepping was born," Williams said. "And a lot of colleges don't have strong presence from organizations that created step." Those organizations were the African-American fraternities and sororities, which popularized the stepping in the mid-20th century. These young men and women used their bodies as an instrument for creating intricate rhythms and sounds. The dancers employ a combination of footsteps, claps and spoken word in their routines. All of these elements came together to form the dance. But Williams says the troupe takes it one "step" further. "The cool thing about Step Afrika is that - not only do we show the traditional style of stepping - but we merge the female and male traditions into one. We play with stepping and use the whole body. We use really complex rhythms," Williams said. "We also like to highlight other traditional dances like the gumboot dance used by miners in the South Africa and the traditional Zulu dance." Step Afrika has taken these talents all around the globe. They have performed on many stages in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Stateside, the group frequently partners with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Washington Performing Arts Society. These dancers have graced some of America's most prestigious stages from the White House to the Lincoln Center in New York City. For her part, Heidi Leming, vice president of Student Affairs with the College of Coastal Georgia in Brunswick, is excited to have such a prestigious group make an appearance. "We are trying to start a new tradition at the college where we bring in different signature entertainers for Black History Month. We were looking to bring performers and I had brought in Step Afrika at another organization that I was working with," she said. Being familiar with the group, Leming could attest to their performing prowess. And since the local college has no African-American sororities or fraternities to perform their own step shows, she feels that it will be a great benefit to the students. "We don't have those groups, who would be naturally doing the step shows, here. So we have two goals with bringing them here - one is to promote the cultural and historical background of stepping. The other is to expose our students to a different kind of opportunity that they wouldn't have otherwise," she said. * Lifestyle Editor Lindsey Adkison writes about lifestyle topics. Contact her at ladkison@thebrunswicknews.com, on Facebook or at 265-8320, ext. 316. Breakout: Step Afrika will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the Coffin Gym at the College of Coastal Georgia in Brunswick. The $10 general admission tickets are available at the Lighthouse Bookstore in the Campus Center. Details: 279.5972.