What Is Step?
First of all, step is a form of percussive dance in which the participants’ entire body is used as an instrument to produce complex rhythms and sounds through a mixture of footsteps, spoken works and hand claps. It originates from a blend of African and Caribbean traditions with influences from African-American, military, and other cultural dances.
The roots of step go all the way back to the 1700s, when enslaved Africans used drumming and rhythmic footwork to preserve their culture and communicate.
Step at its earliest point served to be almost a secret code for African-Americans to tell the story of their sorrows and pain without backlash as oftentimes it was too dangerous. 
The Modernization of Step:
As time progressed, the style evolved and modernized with 20th century African-American Greek-letter organizations in HBCUs and on college campuses. Fraternities and Sororities alike use step as a means of sending a message to their audience, sometimes for entertainment in performances or competitions, and other times to protest or use their voice to speak out against something. All in all, the messages steppers send to the audience are positive messages.
Like other styles of African-American dance, stepping relies on call and response, complex yet precise movement, and percussive, rhythmic, stomps and claps that tie the whole performance together.
The dynamic of a step performance and team depends on the team. Step, unlike some other types of dance does not have an inherent ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’. This specific difference really is only made by certain African-American sororities, like AKA’s (Alpha Kappa Alpha) which tie in feminine hand movements, hip gyrations, and the iconic hair swing. Other than that, typical men’s step teams and all women’s step teams don’t differ much besides those small changes if they so choose to make them.
In fact, plenty of step teams outside of fraternities and sororities are co-ed and have both men and women in which there is truly no gendered movement and sticks to the traditional style of step, with precise, yet stylish stomps and claps full of swagger. While singular gendered step teams are more in the focus of media in terms of popularity, that isn’t always the case.
How Did Step Make it to Walkersville?
The Walkersville High School step team is an up and coming performance team that has been performing throughout the county since the 2024-2025 school year. The team started with a few girls, some who are former students at Walkersville, and some seniors this year.
Formerly led by WHS graduates Trish Kitcher, and Suri Kang, as well as senior Alanah Fore, the team is now in its second official year, after emergence from a Black Student Union (BSU) step performance during the Multicultural Festival in 2023. After their success at that first performance, Fore, Kitcher, and Esther Odu, decided they really wanted to have their own team, and from there it was history.
The team has grown exponentially in popularity with eighteen steppers in total: seventeen girls and one boy. Currently, the team is led by seniors Jamelia Tubman and Zariah Lynch, along with sophomores Georgina Arhin and Ye’Shaya Reber. They are preparing to perform for this year’s MLK celebration as well as hosting Walkersville High’s very own Black History Month celebration and show this February. The countywide MLK celebration will be the second year in a row that they have performed at this event which is a very big deal to the team.
Along with those big events, they also are preparing for other shows that their advisor Dr. Bell is booking for them. She is a very attentive and active advisor and coach-like figure, organizing performances, picking out uniforms, staying late to oversee practices. She’s been a wonderful leader for the team and the steppers have said how much they appreciate all she does for them.
Competition or Performance?
The Walkersville High School Step Team is not a competition team. The team runs as more of a performance team based on entertainment. The lack of teams in the area make it difficult to do any competitions at all as well as the lengths that would need to be traveled to find teams to compete against in general. The key states that hold step competitions are New York, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and North Carolina. Baltimore has some inner community competitions but it’s mainly for teams in the community or the Greek-letter organizations performing choreographed, high-energy routines.
It’s a common misconception that most if not all step teams are competition teams, however, that’s just not true. Typically, the most common step team competitions are mostly a college level event between different fraternities and sororities but there are other teams younger than college age that are exclusive competition teams but the WHS Step Team is not one of them.
All About The Captains
The captains who currently lead the Walkersville High Step Team unanimously agree that it’s important to make the team a positive environment where every member is heard and respected. “Being a step team captain does not only mean leadership,” explains senior captain Zariah Lynch. “It also means stepping up to be someone your peers can talk to and trust in situations they feel they can’t do their best.” Zariah helps maintain a pleasant environment by leading with a positive attitude, talking to others with respect, and creating bonds with her teammates over their mutual love towards step.
Along with making sure that step is enjoyable for the team, the captains work together and help the team reach their goals. When the other senior captain, Jamelia Tubman, was asked what qualities she thought were most important in a captain, she replied with patience and determination. She said, “it can be tough to get people in check and it takes a while to get them to do what we gotta do. But we also need determination because without it, no one is going towards the goal.” She also expresses how she tries not to be so aggressive and tough on the team, but she still does show a serious side of herself to make sure the group stays on task. It is clear that she and her fellow captains find the step team’s success important and that they want the best for their team.
When interviewing sophomore captain Georgina Arhin, she shared her own personal experiences and opinions. She describes that one of her favorite parts about the step team is how she’s really able to be herself and show off her full personality. “Others should join for the close team atmosphere and for Dr. Bell’s leadership,” Georgina says in hope of encouraging others to support the step team and possibly join in the future.
These leaders prioritize leadership qualities like respect, integrity, responsibility, communication and positivity, while also believing that a positive, inclusive environment is important. They all share their own personal things regarding what they love about stepping at Walkersville High including Zariah’s appreciation for the step team’s creativity and team bonds, Georgina feeling the step team is a safe place for her and her teammates, and Jamelia’s love for the artistry of step and dance. These things are what make the step team so important. 
The Importance of the Step Team
The culture and representation that the step team brings including their teamwork, creativity, and confidence is important for Walkersville to see. The step team has performed a number of times in the past two years with each performance taking hard work and strength to share a story. This type of storytelling and art is special; they use their strong body movements and sound to engage with the audience on a whole different level. In captain Jamelia’s interview, she even mentions that for her “it’s exciting to be able to shock audiences with our sound and put together ground shaking routines.” Walkersville High’s step team embraces their culture, their team bonds, their passions and their feelings to create amazing stepping performances and to lift up our school spirits.
