Teaching artist Ryan Johnson teaches several basic stepping and clapping patterns used in the percussive dance form known as stepping, and then demonstrates a short dance sequence using the patterns learned.

Vocabulary You Will Learn:

• Stepping - A percussive art form created by African Americans on the campuses of historically Black colleges and universities.
• Tone clap - Clapping with palms flat against each other. 
• Cup clap - Clapping with hands curved into a “C” shape. 
• Over under - A dance move where one leg is lifted and the dancer claps once over the leg and then once under the leg. 
• Blades - A dance move where the dancer steps out with one foot with the heel on the ground and toes lifted, while holding both arms out to one side with fingers pointed straight out.

Materials You Will Need:

• Nothing, just yourself! 

How to Perform a Stepping Routine

1. First, we’re going to learn how to do a tone clap. This is when you clap the fingers of one hand onto the palm of your other hand. Practice doing four tone claps. 
2. Next, we’re going to learn how to do a cup clap. Form each hand into the shape of a “C.” Twist your hands so that they are perpendicular to each other, and clap them together four times. 
3. Try combining steps one and two.; do four tone claps followed by four cup claps. 
4. Next, we’re going to learn the stepping move known as over under. Step with your right foot, and then lift your left leg up, so that your knee creates a 90 degree angle. Then clap over the raised leg, and then under the raised leg. Practice this a few times with both legs.
5. The fourth move we’re going to learn is called blade. Stand with your hands in fists at your waist, and step out with your right foot while raising your arms straight out to the left. Your arms should be parallel to the floor and your fingers should be pointed straight out. Repeat, stepping with the left foot, with your arms out to the right.

6. Now we’re going to try a short routine that incorporates all of these moves.
• The first move in the routine will be over under. Start on the left side, and then repeat on the right side. Then, step three more times. Repeat this entire move one more time.  
• Next, we’re going to perform the blade move twice – once to the left and once to the right.
• Finally, step four more times (right, left, right, left), and then punch forward with your right hand while holding your left forearm in front of your face, parallel to the floor, while lowering your head. 
• Practice the whole routine now, putting all the parts together!
7. If you want to learn more, be sure to check out part 2 of the video!

In this video, Ryan teaches several basic stepping and clapping patterns used in the percussive dance form known as stepping, and then demonstrates a short dance sequence. If you want to go even further, think about these questions: 

• Using the moves you learned in this lesson, can you add some steps onto the sequence Ryan taught at the end of the video? What might come next?
• Can you find a few friends or family members to teach the dance sequence from the lesson to? How does the dynamic of the routine change once you have multiple people performing? How does it look different? Sound different?
• Does stepping remind you of any other dance or movement traditions you know of? How so? 
• Ryan told us that stepping became popular at sororities and fraternities historically Black colleges and universities.; Iit was especially used when initiating new members to the group. How do you think this tradition might have come about? Why do you think it was important to these organizations?

Accessibility

Don't forget that you can turn on "Closed Captioning" to view the YouTube video with English captions.

More about the Teaching Artist

Ryan Johnson is an award-winning artist who seeks to provoke, inspire, and hold space for cultural dialogue and reflection by presenting historically informed, intellectually rigorous, and genre-bending performance and dance engagement activities. He is co-founder and artistic director for SOLE Defined Percussive Dance company, an artist in residence at Dance Place in Washington, D.C. The mission of SOLE Defined is to re-establish percussive dance as a vital part of the concert dance community while cultivating art education programming in historically disinvested communities. 

Johnson’s work has been performed globally throughout Africa; North, South, and Central America; Southeast Asia; and on stages including Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Clark Theater, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, along with commissioned new works by universities across the United States. Johnson’s performance career includes The Beatles LOVE and One Drop by Cirque Du Soleil, STOMP, Step Afrika!, Broadway’s After Midnight Tour, Rose Rabbit Lie at The Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino, and as resident tap dancer for The Washington Ballet’s The Great Gatsby performances at the Kennedy Center.

Johnson continues to weave together the techniques, history, and aesthetics of tap dance, body percussion, stepping, and theater to forge works that reclaim Black narratives. He is actively engaging in cultivating conversations and systems to support the equality of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color artists.

Kennedy Center Education provides resources and experiences that inspire, excite, and empower students and young artists, plus the tools and connections to help educators incorporate the arts into classrooms and learning spaces of all types.

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Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Bank of America; Capital One; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Ednah Root Foundation; Genesis Inspiration Foundation; Harman Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The Kiplinger Foundation; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; The Markow Totevy Foundation; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives;

Prince Charitable Trusts; Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Jackie Washington; GRoW @ Annenberg and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family; and generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts..

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