Stepping, a form of ritual communication, has been beloved in our communities for decades, happening everywhere, from HBCU yards to high school shows.
Our people have always used drums to express and communicate, but during enslavement, captors banned drumming across many colonies. Refusing to be silent, many historians believe that stepping is a direct creative innovation to that ban, where we instead used our bodies to ‘drum.'
Since the mid-1900s, Divine Nine sororities and fraternities have been moving in ritual, performing step shows as a part of probates and homecoming celebrations. Stepping is a complex performance involving dancing, singing, chanting, and call-and-response, a West African-born tradition that our people have held onto for generations.
Many also draw parallels between stepping and the South African ‘gumboot’ harmonized movement, which originated in Johannesburg by miners, and the Dahomey tradition of ‘avogan,’ a monthly event where people from different parts of the city took turns mocking each other through dance.
In that way, 'avogan' is similar to the African-American folk tradition of signifying used by Black Greek Letter Organizations today during stepping to criticize and mock other organizations comedically.
In one way or another, stepping has always been a part of us, and the beauty of this tradition is a reminder of our intrinsic innovation. When we lean into our creativity, we can create brilliant things that impact our community for generations.