Step Arfrika!

Jakari Sherman, right, artistic director for the Step Afrika! troupe directs his audience recruits in introductory moves and shouts for stepping, an energetic dance form the Washington, D.C.-based performers put on display in a rousing free show Aug. 30 in the Campus Center arena for more than 1,000 students, faculty, staff and community members. The group introduces people around the globe to step — developed in the early 20th century by African American fraternities and sororities — and the evening featured plenty of audience participation. Step Afrika! presented intricate, pulse-pounding routines of claps, shouts, stomps and athletic leaps. The troupe paid tribute to South African roots with a “gum boot” dance such as miners use for solidarity and entertainment, and another in Zulu tribal garb to the beat of African drums.