If the telephone calls and blogs that have been written about the ChiStepper Steppin Allstar Game at the GDI Heritage Ball are any indication to the amount of questions people have about process, then a little light should be shed on the process.
SteppersUSA wrote yesterday that there was “probably” some connection between the Steppin Allstar Game and World’s Largest Steppers Contest. Even more, that Pete Frazier probably has something to do with the Steppin’ Allstar Game. In actuality, nothing could be further from the truth. The Steppin Allstar Game was actually an idea that was tossed around nearly 10 years ago by me and a couple other guys. There was also talk of a New School vs. Old School dance off. Like most things in the dance community, talk is just talk and nothing ever materialized.
I’ve held on to this idea of a Steppin Allstar Game for years however, and there were a number of reasons that made the 2012 GDI Heritage Ball the perfect partners. For one, last year a member of the GDI team said that it would be a good idea to conduct the “People’s Choice Award” nominations in person at the Heritage Ball since so many Steppers would be in town. Secondly, both the GDI staff and I were a bit tired of the Steppers Forum and we wanted to create something with a fresh perspective. The GDI staff, as they have for the past few years, trusted me to come up with a creative concept. I presented the concept and they approved it. Finally, NBA Allstar Weekend falls annually on the same weekend as the Heritage Ball, so it was a natural fit to host a yearly skills challenge with Steppin Allstars.
The other questions I’m getting are more related to the concept for picking the contestants. For this first year, there is no real science to it to be quite honest. I’ve been reaching out to people that I consider Allstar Level dancers. The goal for this first year especially is to involve some of the very best active dancers in the nation. I feel that I have a good gage on who those people are. I am using criteria, but I’m following it loosely. This criteria includes winning “major” Steppin’ contests, “national” teaching popularity (workshops), and one’s overall fan base.
My friend asked me what was the difference between an Allstar and a Heavy Hitter, and I said quite simply that they are closely related but the term Heavy Hitter should be more about talent while an Allstar is also includes current popularity. Certainly there are retired, less popular, non-competitive dancers who could dance circles around some of the Allstars, but the problem is that they’re retired, less popular, or non-competitive. One thing the process isn’t is cliquish, because one of the phone calls I received was from a friend of mine asking why he wasn’t invited to participate. While I did reach out to some of the popular Steppers that I had contact info on first, many of these Steppers actually helped me locate others that I didn’t. I didn’t have cell phone numbers for over 50% of the people on the confirmed list.
There’s one more thing. While the picking for the Steppin Allstar Game is not yet finished, someone asked why the list was made up predominately of Chicagoans. I replied simply, “Because 80% of all the best dancers in the nation live in or are from Chicago.” It’s not home-cooking, but it’s pretty close to something we call FACT. Sure, the system is flawed, and next year maybe we’ll vote the Allstars in like the NBA, or use a panel to select them, but this year I wanted to create a game with some of the very best and set a standard of prestige for the skills challenge.
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Tags: GDI | Steppin Contests
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