Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Brittany Dixon learned her first simple steps at a very young age.
Dixon is a 21-year-old ethnic studies student at SOU, and current director of communications for the Black Student Union on campus.
“Your older peers will teach you simple steps when you’re really young, either at school, on the playground, or just in your free time,” she said. “Everyone learns them in Richmond.”
Dixon is one of seven SOU students in the newly formed step team, which consists of six females and one male, BSU president Carter Franklin. The team made their debut performance last Wednesday afternoon, as part of a week of events in celebration of black history month.
Step dancing, or stepping, is rhythmic dancing that uses a person’s body as an instrument, and generally involves stomping, yelling, and clapping. Though step teams are generally all male or all female, the SOU team works with what they have.
According to Dixon, the last time SOU tried to form a step team was in 2008, who said they performed that routine with only one week of practice for a Martin Luther King Jr. day event.
“This time it was more coordinated, and people were more excited,” she said about the current team, which formed in early January.
Team member Adriana Ricks, a 21-year-old biology major, also started stepping at a young age, and was actively involved on a step team in elementary school.
“It’s really fun being a part of the team here, and I feel really involved,” Ricks said. “I don’t want to just be some student here, I want to be known for something.”
In addition to Dixon, Ricks, and Franklin, the step team also includes President of the Latino Student Union Amanda Martinez, ASSOU Director of Multicultural Affairs Jessie Hecocta, and BSU members Liz Darrows, and Courtenay Williams.
Ricks explained that the new step team owes thanks of their success to SOU Director for Student Life Rushton Johnson.
“We had Rush come in from a school with an actual Greek system, so we finally have someone who knows what they’re teaching,” said Ricks.
Johnson was previously the dean of student life at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., a university with an active Greek life with both fraternities and sororities. Historically, African-Americans have performed stepping within the Greek system.
Although African-Americans are most closely associated with step dancing, Dixon wanted to emphasize that the Black Student Union at SOU wants to broaden their focus, and educate students and Oregonians that there are many more types of black people than just African-Americans.
“Most Oregonians only get a glimpse of African Americans, usually on television, and there aren’t just African-Americans,” said Dixon. “There are other black cultures, and a lot of different ethnicities contribute to our cultures.”
Ricks added that the step team at SOU is more than a group of performers.
“We’re just not stepping for attention or something like that,” said Ricks. “But we are doing it in part to educate people about African rhythm and our own cultures. Maybe now that we’ve performed, more people will become interested and involved.”
Dixon said that the step team may be seen at this year’s international show, or they may put together a new routine and perform publicly next quarter.
