CU step team finds new Dimensions at Ithaca High School

Members of the Cornell student step team Phenomenon work with members of Ithaca High School's team, Dimensions, at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center in March; from left: IHS student Laura Rillera, 17; Cornell junior Tiffany Matthew; Yvette Lewis, 17, (IHS); CU sophomore Ugochi Anyanwu; and Tieara Leckey, 17 (IHS). Frank DiMeo/University Photography

By Linda Myers

It's a good thing that Tiffany Matthew and her teammates have energy to burn. It's Phenomenon's turn at the Ujamaa talent show at Robert Purcell Student Union March 10, and several hundred fans of Cornell's one and only step squad are waiting to be amazed.

"Pheh-nah'-meh-nahn, pheh-nah'-meh-nahn," the chant that ushers in the team of dancer-athletes begins slowly, gaining steam as they reach the small platform stage in the front of the Multipurpose Room and take their places. Dwane Morgan, head choreographer, gives the countdown, 10-3-2-1, and wham! they're into their first number, "No Sweat," a misnomer if ever there was one. The workout is so strenuous that by the time it's over, the team's performers are dripping in perspiration.

Step, if you've never seen it, is a complex, rapid-fire series of freshly inventive movements that incorporate African-inspired rhythms and hard-hitting body percussion. The hand clapping and body slapping can get so fierce that some performers actually pop small blood vessel in their palms. It's also exhilarating to watch -- and do.

Matthew, a junior in arts and sciences who is co-president and choreographer of Phenomenon, has been stepping since she was in 8th grade back in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands and can't imagine not doing it. "It's an expression of self and a stress reliever," she said. "But being a part of Phenomenon was much different from my simple steps in high school."

Nevertheless, the group -- the first co-ed step team at Cornell -- welcomed her with open arms, and co-president Irma Amador and Joel Dyett, Phenomenon's two main founders, helped her refine and improve her stepping technique.

This year Matthew and several of her Phenomenon teammates have been volunteer coaches with Dimensions, Ithaca High School's first continuous step squad, and the IHS group performed earlier that evening at their invitation. While not as polished as their Cornell counterparts, the high school students were every bit as agile and energetic during their stage show. What's more, they managed to project an aura of enthusiasm and spontaneity that was uniquely their own. Matthew cheered them on from the sidelines and looked as pleased as any stage mother when they were done. "You did great!" she told them afterward. "Y'all have come a long way!"

Both teams have about 25 active participants, and most are African American, Latino or Latina, although several high school team members, including captains Mary Stuttle and Mikka Cain, are white. There are quite a few men on the Cornell team, but Dimensions co-captain and co-choreographer Chris Brown is the only visible guy on the IHS team. A far more profound difference: unlike the Cornell students in Phenomenon, who radiate confidence, the high school team members are still struggling to learn who they are in relation to the rest of the world.

The current IHS Dimensions team came about in the wake of a survey at the high school suggesting that alcohol and drug use were higher than average there. Students from lower income or otherwise struggling families were viewed as especially "at risk." A few agreed to take part in a focus group to talk about what they could do after school that would be a healthier alternative to drugs -- and would matter to them. During that meeting, they told Wendy Suchotliff, the student assistance counselor at the Alcoholism Council of Tompkins County, that they wanted to start a step squad. She agreed to coordinate it and invited the Cornell students to get involved.

"I don't like using the words 'at risk,'" said Suchotliff. "I see all kids as being at risk, especially during the teenage years. The biggest problem these kids face is they haven't been made to feel as if they are an important part of the school."

While being part of Dimensions can't solve every problem, it certainly has helped build self esteem for its team members -- as well as a whole range of skills, such as organization and commitment. The step squad now has a set of rules, a strict practice schedule, its own uniforms and a repertoire of exciting movements that team members have choreographed. What's more, the group has been invited to perform regularly at IHS sports events and other gatherings. "People are excited about what they can do," said Suchotliff. One girl's father came to school for the first time to see her perform.

Before the high schoolers met them, Matthew guesses they imagined the Cornell students to be intimidating. "Then we showed each other some of our steps and they opened up," said Phenomenon secretary-treasurer Princess Osei-Bonsu, a junior in the College of Human Ecology. Matthew added, "The [high school] group just needed some direction at the beginning, not necessarily in how to do step but how to work together."

Phenomenon elects a new slate of officers each year to ensure that there's continuity of leadership, and the Cornell students advised the high schoolers to do the same. They also suggested ways to make practice more effective. "Now we spend half our practice time learning a particular step, and the other half coming together to do it," said Tieara Leckey, a Dimensions captain.

"Next year we'll be a real club," said Cain. However, unlike some other high school clubs, she said, Dimensions won't cut anyone from its list. Instead "we'll help one another," she said.

The supportive approach is one the Cornell team adheres to as well. While head choreographer Dwane Morgan assembles many of Phenomenon's steps, the entire group contributes. "When a person makes up a step, he or she is responsible for teaching it to others," said Matthew. "It's like a family. If you don't get it, someone else helps you out."

Phenomenon team members still show up on occasion at Dimensions' evening practices at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center in downtown Ithaca to advise and encourage. On one such evening a week before the Ujamaa show, Matthew and two teammates worked with the youngsters to learn a new number.

"Listening to one another is key," said Matthew, because it's literally how one learns a particular movement. "That didn't sound too clean," she told the group after they did the new moves out of sync. "How about we go around and y'all tell me what you heard wrong."

"When we got to the part where" clap, stomp, clap, "we weren't together," reported Constancia Delacruz.

When some of the high schoolers grew weary, Matthew commiserated, "We get tired too. You have to take breaks, but then keep going until it sounds together." Later, when the group got it right, she grinned and said: "Did you hear that? That was a step."

But perhaps the most important contribution of Matthew and her team members has been to take the IHS team seriously. In addition to the March talent show, Dimensions was invited to perform on campus last December. "That gave them something to strive for," said Suchotliff. "Not only did they have a wonderful experience both times, but they felt especially privileged to be the only high school group performing."

It also was helpful for them to meet successful college students with an interest in study as well as step. The spillover into their lives at IHS is already being seen. On May 20, Dimensions will run a high school talent night at IHS. And this time, Phenomenon's Matthew and Morgan are invited to perform alongside their Dimensions protégés.