Stepping to Build Community
Guest post by Eva Marie Green, a UW alumna. Eva wrote this piece to highlight a unique cultural event that she experienced as a student, and includes insights from international students about their participation in this event.
Step is a dance form that originated with African-American fraternities in the 1950’s, but today it is embraced by other ethnicities as well [1]. Blurring ethnic lines, the art of step has reached beyond its African-American roots to include many other cultures, including but not limited to Latino and Asian communities. This type of dance has helped build a sense of unity among brothers and sisters in multicultural Greek letter organizations for decades.
I spent the last three weeks with the step team from Lambda Phi Epsilon (Lambdas), an Asian interest fraternity at the University of Washington. Step dance helps build a sense of community in the fraternities and sororities of the United Greek Council (UGC) on the University of Washington campus [2]. The UGC has been one of the leading contributors of step promotion by holding workshops, showcases, and competitions on and around campus. Of the twelve fraternities and sororities recognized by the UGC, eight have a step team, a stroll line, or a hip hop crew. This gives opportunity for all members and friends of the UGC, whether or not they step, to participate in campus-wide events to foster the cultures of their community.
I had the privilege to attend the practices of the Lambda step team as they prepared for a competition that would soon be taking place. The competition they were preparing for was the Sixth Annual Step Out Against Domestic Violence Showcase, which was an annual philanthropic event organized by Sigma Psi Zeta, a UGC sorority [3]. Although it is open to anyone, the main performances showcased UGC organizations such as Sigma Beta Rho and alpha Kappa Delta Phi competing for a cash prize.
Walking into Kane Hall on the night of the competition was nerve wracking. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had never been to an event like this before. All around me, students dressed in their Greek letters were greeting each other with hugs, handshakes and highfives, albeit these were the same people they would be competing against in mere minutes. Undoubtedly, there was a sense of camaraderie among the Asians, Latinos, and African-Americans in the room. They were there to support their friends and be part of the community. When asked how step builds community, Vivian Yu, the co-chair that helped in organizing the event stated, “Stepping and dance are great ways to bring people together. These step teams work together for weeks building unity, the key is to try and sound like one person on stage.”
Judged by a panel of step experts, the Lambda Phi Epsilon step team was determined the overall winner among the competition. Bryan Dosono, president of UGC and former member of the Lambda Phi Epsilon step team, explained how unity goes beyond the performance and becomes part of the community. Per Dosono, “Step builds strength in unity. This tradition is embraced in our communities because it allows marginalized groups to unite against oppression, break out of their confines, and express themselves in a very raw way.”
Since its inception at the University of Washington in 1999, Lambda Phi Epsilon has viewed step as a rite of passage for new members to encourage unity and fellowship [4]. This process allows joining together of Asian Americans as well as other Asian ethnicities from all over the world. Gilbert Zhou is a sophomore that joined the fraternity this year, and he is an international student from China. When asked how step has made him feel like part of the community, he said, “Not once has anyone [from Lambda Phi Epsilon] made me feel like I didn’t belong here. Step let me feel like part of the group. My parents in China don’t even know what stepping is—it isn’t something from my country.”
Overall, I went into this knowing little about step as a form of dance. Going through the process of preparing for a competition with the Lambdas taught me that step dance is a lot more than stomping your feet and clapping your hands. And though I had only a glimpse of what step dance in these communities entail, I learned that cultural preservation drives these traditions from one generation to the next so the art of step will forever be moving forward.
Eva Marie Green is a University of Washington alumna (2014) who majored in Dance and American Indian Studies.
Notes
[1] Fine, Elizabeth Calvert. Soulstepping: African American Step Shows. University of Illinois Press, 2003.
[2] The mission of UW UGC is to promote unity and respect among multicultural Greek organizations on campus.
[3] The idea for the “Step Out” philanthropic awareness showcase originated in 2008 by Sigma Psi Zeta Member Thu Nguyen who felt that domestic violence was an issue that needed more visibility in the community.
[4] Lambda Phi Epsilon was the winner of the 2013 “Huskies in Action” contest, hosted by the Student Philanthropy Education Program.