Step Dance – History in practice

The goal of these workshops is to provide participants with an understanding of Toronto’s Black Art Community’s contribution through the history, culture and practice so that they can go beyond performance art to include substantive and relevant Canadian history and culture into their dance practice.  

Step Dance  

This workshop is an engaging experience focused on the history of Step Dance in Toronto taught by foundational practitioners from Black Ice. Focusing on Toronto’s chapter in the history of stepping, this workshop discusses the contributions from Toronto stepping crews and their connections to Hip Hop, Break Dance and Dancehall iconic choreographers. Discussions include themes of anti-black racism in Toronto’s arts & culture industries.  Both demonstrative and discussion based, participants will be required to Step. The workshop provides an overview of Stepping from African Gum-boot dancing to the African American HBCU’s fraternities and sororities. The goal of this workshop is to provide teachers with an understanding of Toronto’s Step Dance history and Black Ice’s contribution to the culture so that they can go beyond performance to include Canadian history and culture.