The district step team performed their new routine at the city museum on Sep. 23. This is an annual performance for the steppers to practice and showcase their skills to the community around them.
“We perform at the City Museum on behalf of Parkway. They hold an event there and request us because of how much the crowd is entertained,” senior Mark Stovall said.
Coming off of their first place win at Nationals last year, the step team is executing a new routine.
“We have been working on this performance for about two months now, and it’s a mixture of different people when it comes to who creates our steps, transitions, and strolls,” Stovail said.
The step team is made up of middle school and high school students from around the district including all four high schools. It is a way for students from different grade levels and schools to come together to share their passion and history.
“As a mother with a child on the team, what I have seen is it provides a space for her to be amongst her people she identifies with – her culture,” Dr. Cartella Williams, who has a daughter on the team, said.
The Parkway step team has been around since 2008 and has grown exponentially in their numbers and abilities alike. Stovall and other students tend to stay on the team as a way of connecting with each other like a family.
“I have been performing at the City Museum every year since I joined the team in 2019, except for the year of Covid of course,” Stovail said.
The step team’s mantra of “one team, one step” emphasizes the idea of community, support, discipline, and excellence.
“I don’t even know how you would improve what is going on…Continue to grow on the idea that we are a family. This is our tribe. These are our people, and continuing to treat one another with the utmost respect and displaying those values as you are out in the community away from step representing the one team one step outside,” Williams said.
Led by BJ James, Bianca James, Adrienne Lathan, and Gina Covington-James, this idea emulates through their entire life and not just in their performances.
“It is an art form where she gets to express and dance. As someone who views it, I see the energy, I see the positivity that it weaves into other aspects of her life because of the things that she is learning from the coaches on step,” Williams said.
The high-school students on the step team will be performing next during North High’s homecoming pep rally on Oct. 6.
