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Steppers Get Red Carpet Treatment

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By CHERYL KUCK

Tribune correspondent

Published: January 28, 2009

PLANT CITY - Step teams from across the state helped kick off the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Arts Festival.

The rousing performances often brought the capacity crowd at Marshall Middle School auditorium to its feet as the teams were judged on such factors as innovation and complexity of the moves.

The step show has been a popular part of the annual celebration of King's legacy for the past eight years. Teams competed for $1,500 in prizes.

The show was one of the highlights of the festival, which included a parade, gospel concert, leadership breakfast and more. The Improvement League of Plant City has staged the cultural festival for 23 years.

Stepping or step-dancing is historically based on song and percussive (clap/tap/stomp) precision dance competitions held for more than 100 years by African-American sororities and fraternities. This year's step show was hosted by comedian Demetrius "Meech Dog" Wheeler. He distributed T-shirts and CDs from one of the show sponsors, radio station WILD 98.7 FM, and asked everyone to stand and sing "Lift Every Voice and Sing," also known as the Black National Anthem.

At the end of the song, everyone cheered for President Barack Obama, who was inaugurated a few days later.

The first place winner and recipient of $1,000 was an all-male Tampa group, Theta Phi Beta. Second place, with a $300 prize, went to Tau Beta Tech boys from Tampa Bay Tech High School. The Stanton College Prep Men of Unity from Jacksonville won third place and a $200 prize.

Competitors included the Alpha Omega girls team and Xi Sigma Mu boys teams from Chamberlain High School, Dunedin High School's Million Dollar Steppers, the Alpha Cougar Omega team from Durant High School, West Boca Raton Community High School's Beta Sigma Theta team and others.

About 500 spectators, plus the dance team members, filled the Marshall auditorium for the competition. The show has grown so much that the Improvement League is exploring the possibility of moving it next year to a larger venue, the Trinkle center on the Plant City campus of Hillsborough Community College, 1206 N. Park Road.

William Thomas Jr., public relations coordinator for the Improvement League, said his organization was pleased with the competition and how the community welcomed the teams. Local merchants offered discounted meals and accommodations to the teams, he said.

"Since the event, we have received dozens of complimentary phone calls from the schools that traveled into to our town. Plant City really rolled out the red carpet for our visitors. When we get this kind of feedback, it encourages us as well as other schools to do it again next year," he said.

For information about the Improvement League, call (813) 757-6760.

Correspondent Cheryl Kuck can be reached at wkuck@tampabay .rr.com.

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