Correct statement 1990-ish. I'm a 90 stepper as well!

OMG...Stop!!! How about we had an intro to that? It was 1994 or 1995 I believe. We had these sequence (sp.?) vests with the colors of all the D9 orgs to show Unity; couldn't believe we found those, got them at Macy's. We won too (won the year before too but...don't wanna brag) . LOL!!!

I co-sign this post to the fullest; this explains totally why ZTA won and AKA didn't. Their gimmick and their precision both was on point, and thus they deserved to win. And to all the complainers out there, say what you will about what the ZTAs did to win, but just remember this:

BGLO philosophies doesn't win step shows, precision, gimmicks, and crowd appeal seals the deal every time.

ETA: so what if the ZTA routine was from the 1990s, I found that actually a lot more appealing than what gets passed off as a step show performance today. Having gone to college in the 90s, I yearn for step routines from that era to return; there was much more actual stepping and a lot less extraneous "visual" BS that takes away from valuable stepping time. That notwithstanding, $75,000 between the AKA and Delta step teams are hardly chump change to scoff at.

Yes, and as a collegiate and alumnae stepmaster, I always say "...you now have the technical routine, focus on putting heart in it now."

That's what distinguishes a robot from a stepper. :p

That's really really really cool. :D

And if a team seemingly mechanically copied that show (and others) from 1994 or 1995 and performed it they'd get a WOMP WOMP for creativity and a WOMP WOMP for their inability to take the old and make it new. :)

a serious WOMP WOMP...LOL! And I remember this show really well now. It was 1994 and myself and the other stepmistress made up brand new steps (mostly the same beats) for almost our entire show because we were sick of doing the same one and decided that we needed to do something entirely different that those around us hadn't seen. We would spend HOURS trying to be creative and come up with new moves. Those were the good ole days.

And we wouldn't dare do another org's steps and NEVER did FULL tributes. For example, an Alpha on our campus passed away and we put a small part of an Alpha step at the end of our final step in a show to salute him and the Alphas went off because we weren't big on tributes at my school. We had a theme and that was it. People did their steps non-stop. It's not llike now where you see a show and say to yourself or your soror..."Isn't that one of our steps?" LMMFAO!!!!

Thank you. I'm like why are we getting so passionate about a step show! And I am so tired of hearing about the historical, cultural aspect of stepping. So what? Most of us are so far removed from our African roots that we have no clue of all the historical contexts. And believe me there are many more aspects to be so passionate about than stepping. BTW do they "step" in Africa like we do here?

Lastly, back in the day it wasn't stepping, it was performing. We sang, danced, and twirled canes. I've said this before. So let us put it in its proper perspective.

We have bigger fish to fry!

Oh, and as for the comment about the blood, sweat and tears that went into forming our orgs--NOT. Remember most of us were founded at HBCUs. The biggest hurdle was the paperwork.

I think the rub is how Sprite marketed it.

Chuckling at the references to the 90s. But I love y'all. BTW, I was one of the "step"masters of my collegiate chapter, too. We were called dance leaders. :D

I just saw one of the videos, and I was extremely shocked. I'm with SD1920 in that the D9 was used to promote their reality show, and no...they do not understand the true history behind the organizations.

My great-grandmother used to say, "be careful when they befriend you...they will only try to use you... or try to steal your thunder." However, in this case, we handed it right to them.

Most of us that "step" these days have not been educated on the intense spiritual and emotional kinship associated with the rhythms and moves of a routine.

Most of us that "step" these days are totally unaware of the struggle...and the fact that Negro organizations were born (partly) out of strong resistance to Negro membership by white groups.

For some reason, it seems as if stepping has been reduced to merely a fun dance routine - that everyone wants to learn...participate in...and look "cute" in. It's soooo not about that.

The result of this competition is what happens when you do not teach and embrace your history...it's what happens when some of us sell our souls in search of acceptance.

*never give anyone your thunder*
__________________

BTW - the term Negro was used for effect. Most of us don't know what it's like to keep your chin up despite being called such...

Most of us don't know what it's like to fight to honor, protect and improve upon something that so many have fought and died for.

...and yes, it's that's serious...

You were called dance leaders because you all weren't "stepping" like it is called now. :) We are referencing the 90s because the 80s-90s is when "stepping" as a BGLO artform (as many people know it today) began to really take shape and get more widespread appeal.

Are we?

Even if there is passion (I call it "opinions"), it is about more than stepping and has a larger point.

Duh, that's my point. :D But between the comments here, on FB, etc., you have folx bemoaning on one hand that we don't step like we did in the 90s. Then on the other hand you have those critical of ZTA, because of their taking steps from the 90s.