Step In, Step Out, Step Up

STEP
45th Street Theatre

Whether we like it or not a new brand of theatre choreography is making its way to the stage, and it is not holding back.
Step, one of the 34 new musicals at NYMF this year, is an amalgamation of storytelling and urban dance rhythms. What Maxine Lyle (choreographer) and the Soul Steppers have done is take a form of dance, that is becoming ever more popular in black universities across the country, and made an attempt of turning that into a two hour performance piece. Step has to two major flaws in it's conception and execution:
1.) It plays not to a general mass appeal, but to a sect of the population. The creative team has tried to make a political and social statement with this show, that fails to reach anyone but the choir. This is a problem with niche theatre, they try to educate people outside of the niche but end up educating only those inside that niche. I know that step is not a mainstream form of dance, but if your message is meant for the masses, I hate to say it, but you are forced to play to the masses. A show like Step cannot stay afloat just by niche appeal, and if the show can't stay open, then there is no message to get across.
What message is this show trying to get across?
I found myself asking the same question. For a moment it seemed like a sermon about the oppression of blacks, then it sounded like an education on the ways of stepping, then on to the origins of the style, then to why people step in general. I'm still not sure, sitting here thinking back on it, not that it matters, really, the meaning and message lies in the audiences perception, and that can vary. But, to me, coming out of that theatre I wasn't really quite sure what the was trying to say to me in particular.
2.) Step is slightly self indulgent. This ties into the niche problems that the show is having. Mixing group routines with solo performances, there was rarely any, with the exception of one or two pieces, that stood apart from each other. What I'm saying is that a step routine, while fun and exciting for five minutes, doesn't necessarily translate well into an hour and a half production, even when there is spoken dialogue and a few songs thrown in for good measure. Step doesn't come off as a dance form that is vast in it's movements, so by minute forty five it seemed as though we were watching the same routine again and again.
I'd also like to comment on the fact that a show that is dance oriented does not constitute a musical. Step falls into a category with Contact. While contact is a cohesive unit, that pulls the audience along through dialogue and a through plot line, it is not what I would consider a musical, same goes for Step.
Back to my first statement, the dance form of step, as well as hip-hop and other urban dance, is a groundbreaking form of choreography, that is showing up on the Great White Way, even as I type this. Modern dance and it's influence can be seen in Legally Blonde for instance. Like I said before, this is happening whether we like it or not, and its not such a bad thing either. With every generation there come a new breed of dance and a new style. What Step has done is bring another type of dance onto the musical stage. Where this show has failed others can build upon. While Step is in itself not a show of note, what it tried to do for the art of dance is commendable.