Students started a stomp team to bring a different type of art to campus.
Stomping, or step-dancing, is a form of percussive dance. The participant’s entire body is used as an instrument to produce sounds and rhythms through a mixture of footsteps, spoken word and hand claps.
Valentino Valentin, acting junior, and Taylor Blackman, acting sophomore, are the leaders of the OCU Step Team.
Valentin was named step-team captain. He has stepped for seven years. Valentin creates the step choreography and Blackman choreographs all hip-hop based moves.
“The step team is a dance team that expresses community, fun and self expression through dance and step,” Blackman said. “It’s very diverse and allows for people of all backgrounds to come together and perform.”
The requirements to join the Step Team are a 2.0 GPA and a willingness to learn.
“I had an absolute blast at the audition,” said Sara Byerly, acting freshman. “The process was great and the teachers were really good about being specific and going slow so that everyone could really soak in the steps.”
The team has not been announced yet and no rehearsals have taken place due to the leaders’ busy schedules.
Once the members are announced, the team will practice every Sunday in preparation for performances at events around campus. The group has not scheduled any events.
We want to focus on working as a team and growing together as steppers, Blackman said.
Auditions for the step team were Jan. 24, but Blackman encourages interested students to email him at atblackman@my.okcu.edu.
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