1. African American Step Dancing
Stepping
African American Step Dancing

2. What is Stepping?
A form of dance in which the participants use their entire body as an instrument to produce rhythms and sounds through:
Footsteps
Hand claps
Spoken Word
Props (canes, sticks, etc.)
Stepping also uses elements of gymnastics, break dancing, tap, march, and African/Caribbean dance

3. History
African American Stepping can find its origins from a combination of military exhibition drill and African foot dances.
It also grew heavily from the movements of R&B groups in the 50’s and 60’s such as the Temptations and The Four Tops who used fancy steps to help accompany their singing.

4. History
The tradition of stepping is rooted within the competitive schoolyard sing and dance rituals practiced by African American fraternities and sororities (beginning in the early 1900’s)
Blacks in higher education were not allowed to join the traditional white sororities and fraternities at the time so they had to create their own.

5. In Popular Culture
The first national syndicated step show, S.T.O.M.P., was aired in 1992 at Howard University. Now step shows are seen nationally and competitions are held regularly.
Popular movies such as Mac and me, School Daze, Drumline, and Stomp the Yard have made stepping very popular in today's culture.

6. Embraced by All
In the early 80’s, Latino fraternities and sororities also embraced the strolling and stepping culture. They then added Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata influences to the tradition.
Till this day, many multicultural organization have added their own cultural flare to stepping and strolling.

7. Sigma Lambda Gamma and Sigma Lambda Beta
Organization such as SLB and SLG branched off from traditional black organizations (Phi Beta Sigma/Zeta Phi Beta) which is why many of their rituals (strolling and stepping) followed.

8. Outside of Greek Life
Even though it is most popular amongst multicultural and historically black sororities and fraternities, stepping has branched off into many forms of entertainment such as:
Cheerleading
Pom Squads and Step Teams
Dance Groups
Movies
Schools

9. What does it look like???
Strolling (Combination of dance moves and organization symbolization in a straight line)
Stepping