Club Spotlight: Strictly Steppin’ The steps heard around the world
Strictly Steppin’ is a club at Hofstra that performs the art of stepping, a style of dance that combines a series of claps, pats and stomps.
Photo Courtesy of Annemarie LePard
Strictly Steppin’ is not your typical dance team. Through a series of claps, pats and stomps, this style of dance uses the body as an instrument to create music.
Originally called Emanon, Strictly Steppin’ was founded in 2000 as a branch of Hofstra’s IMANI Dance Ensemble. It practices the African-rooted art form known as “stepping.”
“Stepping is a compilation of claps and stomps, which create beats attached to emotional expression and meaning,” according to Strictly Steppin’s page on GetInvovledHU.
“It’s about trying to find a beat with your feet first, and then just finding some type of way where your hands can go with it,” said De’Jah Gross, a junior journalism major and secretary of Strictly Steppin’. “It’s kind of like making music, in a way.”
Step dancing is all about being heard. “You want to have your fingers closed because you want to hear the sound clearly, not all mushy, because it makes a different sound when your fingers are open,” said Elashia Jones, a senior community health major who is co-captain and treasurer of the club. “When you’re stomping, you need to make sure that you’re stomping with a flat foot so you actually hear the stomp, because if you’re not doing that, then you can’t hit all of the beats you’re trying to make.”
For co-captain Brittany Johnson, a junior double major in psychology and Spanish, step was hard to learn in the beginning due to her background in cheerleading, which followed a numbered structure and incorporated a variety of components other than just dance. “[Cheerleading] is eight counts – on this number you do this, and on this number you do that; but that doesn’t exist with step,” she said. “It’s just you do this, then that, and you have to figure out the pauses for yourself.”
Stepping is not only about preciseness, but fluidity as well, different from the stiff movements that Johnson is used to from cheerleading in high school. “If I’m stepping, I have to hit [the step] but I have to put attitude into it, like actually move my body more with it to create a looser motion,” she said.
While rhythm also plays a major role in step dancing, it is important to be able to pick up on steps. “Everyone learns at their own pace, and if you are a slower learner, people will pull you aside and work with you,” Johnson said. “It is one thing to know the steps, but we have to be able to perform them too.”
Without any music to supplement the routine, performance is key. “Sometimes I get into my own little mood or get in, like, a little attitude or sass to add my own creativity [to a routine],” Gross said.
Nicholas Delgado, a freshman psychology major, feels “great” while stepping. “I know it sounds weird, because it hurts. Stomping hurts, obviously, like it gets tiring and you get sore,” Delgado said. “But honestly, it’s really fulfilling when everything comes together.”
Johnson has popped many blood vessels in her hands from stepping, but she said it is worth it because the feeling of a routine just clicking with the entire team is indescribable. “In the moment you’re practicing, you’re going and going and going, then one day, it’s just perfect. We all end together, everything sounds precise and it’s just that feeling,” she said. “Everyone looks at each other, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we totally just killed that!’ and it’s really exciting and rewarding when we see if [a routine] can come together because we make all of our sets ourselves.”
At the end of the day, it is not about the performance of the step dance, but rather the familial bond that unites the team.
“We go there and of course there’s work, and we take things seriously, but there’s also times where it’s just fun,” Johnson said. “Everyone just gets along really well and being in that kind of happy, positive environment makes me want to continue doing [step].”
“I just love the team,” a beaming Delgado said. “I love the presence that they give, and they’ve honestly made my first semester of college a lot more memorable than I thought it’d be.”
The 15-member team holds open tryouts at the beginning of each semester for anyone who is interested, regardless of their level of experience. “People just basically come and we show them a few steps, then they show it to us,” Johnson said. “We see how well they work with the team and how well they pick it up.”
Strictly Steppin’ is working toward entering competitions for the first time in several years after a lot of members graduated all at once, forcing them to stop. Johnson is hopeful that the team will be able to compete within the next year.
Practices are held on Tuesdays in Student Center Room 143, and Thursdays in the yoga studios of the Fitness Center from 8:45 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Strictly Steppin’ will be performing Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the Black Student Union’s Annual Unity Showcase featuring celebrity guest Zoie Fenty in the John Cranford Adams Playhouse.
