Stepping is a dance style created by historically African American fraternities and sororities. Step Africa! was founded in 1994 by C. Brian Williams and has toured more 60 countries and ranks in the top ten of African American dance companies.

The performance tonight at the Auditorium Theatre is very high energy and the dancers have great coordination with each other. There is also a lot of interaction with an enthusiastic audience as they encourage clapping, stomping, and dancing along in a call and response style.

Early in the show they have a competition between the men and the women, fraternities verse sororities. It ends up in a 1-1 tie, as I suspect they intended.

The show could use an intermission. It runs about 85 minutes and the audience was clearly getting restless towards the end. Most of the dance shows at the Auditorium Theatre do have one or even two intermissions.

During the show, there is never any music playing. it’s just the sound of them stomping with their tap shoes and clapping. Only at one time do they use drums.

Late in the show, they introduce a dance that they learned by traveling to South Africa. They wear shin high boots like the ones worn by the miners who created the dance. It is very similar to Step and fits in very well with the rest of the pieces.

Cost of a ticket: $83 (Mid Orchestra)

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It –

Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Half Price > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Check out their website for information about future shows.

Quinn Delaney