#298. Being Out-Stepped

Black people are routinely pegged as the preeminent dancers on the planet, for their incredible rhythmical skills are constantly on display through film, television and well, this.

Movies such as Save the Last Dance illustrate this point, as a naive white girl finds the dancing ability of Black people to the push she needs to excel at ballet.

Dancing though, as historically known in the Western tradition, is of little to no use to Black people and they find acceptable dancing constricting and unacceptable to their cultural norms. Black people excel in originality when it comes to dancing and have created a form of dancing that's authentically Black - stepping:

Stepping or step-dancing is a form of percussive dance in which the participant's entire body is used as an instrument to produce complex rhythms and sounds through a mixture of footsteps, spoken word, and hand claps. Though stepping may be performed by an individual, it is generally performed by groups of three or more, often in arrangements that resemble military formations.

Stepping may also draw from elements of gymnastics, tap dance, march, or African and Caribbean dance, or include semi-dangerous stunts as a part of individual routines. Some forms of stepping include the use of props, such as canes, rhythm sticks and/or fire and blindfolds.

The tradition of African American stepping is rooted within the competitive schoolyard song and dance rituals practiced by historically African American fraternities and sororities, beginning in the mid-1900s.

If you have attended a major university that has even 10 Black people enrolled there, then chances are you have been regaled with a "step-show" before. Black people, especially Black fraternities, partake in stepping as a ritualistic exercise that has roots in Africa.

The uniformity displayed by step-team members in the choreographed clapping, stepping and dancing routine is a sight to behold and chanting that takes the form of ululations is but an added bonus in any stepping display.

But the cross-over appeal of stepping is an unavoidable reality that must know be discussed, for films such as Stomp the Yard and the MTV show America's Best Dance Crew have broadcast a formerly all-Black activity to the entire country, which have had the destabilizing effect of integrating the team dance activity.

Remember: anything that is all-white must be integrated, yet anything that is all-Black must be preserved in an all-out effort to maintain the street cred of that activity. Daring to integrate an all-Black activity is an exercise in futility, yet daring to integrate is an endeavor that is greeted with congratulatory and laudatory language.

Stepping is a Black thing, an opportunity to "keep it real" and is an authentically Black exercise in dancing that no white person would dare emulate until now:

Stepping, which is deeply rooted in the tradition of historically Black Fraternities, has moved into the mainstream. At the Sprite Step Off, a traditionally white sorority with all white members, Zeta Tau Alpha won the $100,000 prize. Bossip was in the audience and they agreed that Zeta Tau Alpha “brought it.”

This can be considered of another example of how Black culture becomes mainstream and becomes appropriated by Caucasian people and becomes a greater part of American culture as a whole.

This upset victory by white girls daring to integrate an all-Black activity has sent shock waves through the stepping community everywhere:

On Saturday, I accompanied AG Entertainment’s Alex Gidewon to the Sprite Step Off Challenge at the Civic Center. The best part of the evening for me was the car ride there and back. We pulled up to the Civic Center in a CL65 AMG with a turbocharged V12 engine that reached top speeds in 6 seconds. The car took my breath away. All I can say is I want one!

Anyway, step show host Ryan Cameron (WVEE) said “Steppin’ is for erybody.” Well, it’s not for me. I was bored out of my skull for the 50+ minutes that we were there. Back in my college days, steppin’ was an entirely different art form than what you see today. Now it’s more lights, cameras and action than fancy footwork mixed with military precision.

So is it any wonder that an all white girl crew from Arkansas took 1st place in the majority black competition? The women from Zeta Tau Alpha’s Epsilon chapter electrified the crowd with a dazzling step routine that clocked in at just under 9 minutes. They won cash scholarships and other prizes. MTV2 will air the step show at 3 pm on February 28 and March 7.

Stepping, an authentically Black activity that once was reserved for only Black people to practice discipline in rhythmic movement, while simultaneously clapping their hands in unison, has now been infiltrated to a point where a team of white girls from Arkansas could usurp the Sprite Step-Off Challenge 2010 title and supplant all Black teams beneath perfectly choreographed routine.

This loss is being taken hard by Black people and stepping-purists everywhere, as step-hardliners view this as a direct assault against their authentically African tradition.

Stuff Black People Don't Like includes being out-stepped, for there is absolutely nothing sacred anymore if a bunch of white girls from Arkansas can out-step Black people and claim the Sprite Step-Off Challenge.

Stepping has been integrated, which makes its no longer indigenous to the Black community and no longer an activity that can be deemed exclusively and authentically Black. Stepping has been polluted with the stain of whiteness and can no longer be deemed a "keeping it real" activity, although it did offer an interesting, intimate look at Black culture when it was an 100 percent Black enterprise.

#112. Waiting Until Middle School to Start Freak Dancing

Just as a previous post discussed Waiting Until Graduation to Start Stripping, this brief entry will detail an event SBPDL is even shocked about.

The people in this video are obviously speaking Spanish, but don't appear to be Non-Hispanic white people, but those of obvious African heritage. They are children, and they are partaking in a dance that would make those in the Matrix: Reloaded rave scene cringe.

We have seen the future, and it will be.

Stuff Black People Don't Like includes Waiting Until Middle School to Start Freak Dancing, for if the future is to be one in which the amalgamation of the races is complete, Black people don't want to be denied the right to dance how they want anymore:

"Their solution: Fight explicit teen dancing with an equal dose of explicitness. Downey and Aliso Niguel are among the first schools to draft "dance contracts," binding agreements that parents and students must sign before a teenager can step onto the dance floor.

Administrators say the graphic descriptions in the contracts leave little room for arguments over interpretation and put everyone on notice about appropriate behavior."

Remember, this is a Black world now, and it is important we all stop Acting White, and start Acting Black to fit in. So, to keep things 365Black, elegant Ballroom dancing of the past is out and the embracing of Freak Dancing must now begin.

But remember: the only alternative to this future - as epitomized in the Matrix rave scene - is to embrace The Lord of Dance, one of the ultimate forms of SBPDL.

#52. Lord of the Dance

It is a well-known fact that Black people love to dance. Go to any night club,church, high school sporting event or any place Black people congregate and you will see Black people dancing.

Black people love rhythm, displaying soul and harmony, being hip and showing off their incredible dance moves. Ask anyone who has ever viewed a step-team show on a college campus and seen the incredible discipline and choreographed maneuvers that Black people, and you will get an answer in the affirmative that Black people can dance.

Most people know of the famous Florida A&M marching band, which gives off Clark Kent impression of being a normal band, but is actually the Superman of college bands, easily besting all traditionally white college bands with more booty shaking moves than Tom Cruise displayed in Tropic Thunder.

To Black people, traditional white people marching bands are boring, silly, rigid and well, white. Black people look down on white people who play in marching bands and don't display the same soul that they do; in fact a movie was made called Drumline, that's plot continually boasts about the coolness, freshness and Blackness of the authentic marching band... the Black marching band.

The idea of Black people dancing superiority largely centers around the pernicious myth that white people can't dance. It's not that white people can't dance, it's just that white people look silly trying to emulate Black people dancing.

So as much as Black people love to jive, beat box, step-show, grind and gyrate on the dance floor (especially in rap videos), there is one type of dancing that is included in Stuff Black People Don't Like, and for good reason too: Michael Flatley and his Lord of the Dance.

Unlike step-shows and Black college bands, the latter consisting of stomping, yelling, clapping and sometimes contain canes and the former consisting of, well this, Lord of the Dance is an exhibition of perfection of harmony and choreography. It also consists of white people performing exquisite and complex moves in absolute perfect precision. Yes, white people performing complex dance steps, thus completely dispelling the myth that white people can't dance. In fact, one viewing of Lord of the Dance, and most people walk away believing that the Celtic dancers are the finest dancers in the world.

This is too much for Black people, who have been constantly told that they are the world's best dancers, in actuality the only people who can dance. Black people truly believe that white people can't dance, and write off the Lord of the Dance as an aberration.

Black people look at the white people dancing in Lord of the Dance and wonder if all those people on the stage underwent the same bleaching procedure that Michael Jackson endured.

Black people view the popularity of Lord of the Dance with weary eyes. The mere existence of these Irish folks performing sold out shows around the world to rapturous crowds - overwhelming white crowds - helps to dilute the idea of Black superiority in dancing. Black people do not like to be inferior in anything, and stay clear of Lord of the Dance.

Anytime they see white people dancing in unison and to beautiful Celtic music, the fear of white people losing the idea of Black superiority in dancing is never far behind. This myth must stand, for Black people pride themselves on their dance moves and to be usurped on the dance floor by white people, especially the Irish, would be the ultimate injustice to Black people.