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Last week one of our societies headed to the City of Leicester College to celebrate Martin Luther King Day and teach students a ‘different’ kind of dance.

The DMU steppers performed and held workshops with year 7 and year 8 students at the specialist Business and Enterprise College stirring excitement and raising awareness to what stepping is all about.

“Most of the children did not know of and had not heard of what stepping even was until today” said a member of DMU’s Steppers.

Stepping is a well-known form of dance in the United States but The DMU Steppers are believed to be one of the first university Step teams in the United Kingdom. Michael, Chairman of the DMU steppers explained, “Stepping is a form of dance in which we create rhythms with our hands and feet.”

Traditionally, African American Fraternities and Sororities would use step as one of the many forms of initiating new comers into their new found family.  However, now, people across the country use step or stepping for many different occasions, whether it be competitively or just for fun.

As well as teaching students about stepping, the university dance troupe incorporated it with the celebration of Martin Luther King Day. Martin Luther King day is a federal holiday held on the third Monday of January. It is a day of remembrance for all the things Martin Luther King Jr. achieved and accomplished in his life time. It is also a day to remember things that have been accomplished since, but in his name.

One of the science teachers at the City of Leicester College, Mrs Walter-Nisbett commented on the dance team’s performance. She said, “I saw the steppers perform at an event in the community and I also knew stepping was a form of dance used to celebrate by black American universities. As Dr King attended a black American university it was nice to show the children that black people continue to celebrate their heritage.” Martin Luther King day is traditionally a day which celebrates equality for all, regardless of their background.

Historically we find that fraternities have played an important role in the supporting of the civil rights movement. More notably, the work of the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha, who established the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation  which was founded to commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1996, the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha had their Congressional Legislation signed by President Clintion, which stated they were allowed to erect a memorial in the District of Columbia to honour Dr King and his work.

By going into the school, the DMU Steppers not only got to show off their skills and teach a new generation of the dance, but they also got to educate students about the importance of Martin Luther King Day and everything associated with it.

A member of the steppers commented “It was amazing that we could teach the students a form of dance that both celebrates African American heritage and the life of such an inspiring man. We had a great day.”

Mrs Walters-Nisbett also commented that both herself and her students had ‘had a fantastic day’.

It appeared that the students and staff at the City of Leicester College, along with the DMU steppers, enjoyed their day celebrating the life of a truly inspiring man. No matter where we are in the world it is always important to pay homage to those that helped to make the world a better place for us all.