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Registration is being accepted for teenage step groups and drill teams who want to perform in a “step festival” scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9 at the Williams Center for the Arts.
Teams are being accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis, and a first place trophy will be awarded. To register a team, contact Frey at 610-330-5772 or freyj@lafayette.edu.
Tickets for the event cost $5 and will be sold at the door.
Hip-hop dancer and choreographer Rennie Harris, who also will perform at the Williams Center twice this school year, will be master of ceremonies. Harris will be joined by special guests from the Philadelphia dance community, including The Untouchables. All competitors will have the opportunity to participate in a full group finale directed and led by Harris.
Stepping is a lively dance form that combines feet thumping, hand clapping, and messages chanted by the performers. Rooted in the traditions of the South African boot dance, this art form was eventually adopted by black fraternities and sororities, according to Jody Frey, director of recreation services. The nation’s black Greek organizations contributed heavily to the evolution of stepping. Community groups, churches, and schools have also formed groups. These teenage performers are the ones celebrated in Lafayette’s step festival.
In addition to his role at this event, Harris will perform at the Williams Center Sept. 8 in a celebration of his home city’s pioneers of street dance, club styles, and the seminal performance ideas of his Puremovement troupe that gave hip-hop and b-boy culture its defining aesthetic. The “Legends of Illadelph” are chosen by Harris in homage to the culture his choreography honors. Headliners will include the Electric Boogaloo from Las Vegas, with Boogaloo Sam and Poppin’ Pete; the Untouchables from Philadelphia; Don Campbell from Los Angeles; and music created by DJ Tracy. The event is a showcase performance of a work in progress.
Rennis Harris Puremovement will return April 3 with another work-in-progress, Facing Mecca, which is inspired by the Black Muslim movement in America and features a new solo for Harris based on the traditions of hip-hop and butoh.
Tickets for each performance cost $10. For tickets or more information, call the Williams Center box office at 610-330-5009.