“Step Afrika!” dishes out beats, traditions

I went to see the “Step Afrika!” show with some degree of trepidation, unsure if I would be bombarded with a lot of Greek letter-wearing steppers concerned more with representing their fraternities than putting on a good show.

I couldn’t have been happier to be wrong.

“Step Afrika!” was a highly amusing show that mixed education with entertainment. Starting with the history of stepping and the black Greek organization connection, they moved to stepping to spirituals as well as demonstrating the South African gum boot dance (which is similar to stepping, but was originally used as a method communicating in diamond mines).

The performers were charismatic and friendly, keeping the crowd excited throughout. They brought up 15 or so students to the stage, including several people I knew. Jakari Sherman, a member of the “Step Afrika!” company, lined them all up and gave them a lesson in stepping. The students were good showmen themselves, hamming up the performance.

Once the crowd relaxed and got into the performance -- which seemed to take a little while -- the show seemed to come alive, featuring a hilarious call and response of “If you’re ready and you know it, clap your hands...” that denigrated when we were asked to sing “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” instead of clapping. I just about fell out of my seat laughing.

There were very few flaws with the show, and those barely impacted the coolness of the show. There seemed to be a few miscommunications with regards to lighting and when to begin and end the projected videos, but these were only slightly distracting.

Overall, the show was nothing short of amazing. I learned quite a bit about stepping and dancing while laughing until my tummy hurt.