Stepping: Beyond the Line (2011)

Dancers stomp out a rhythm on the floor and on the body, expressing identities and struggles, hopes and dreams. They tell of resistance and conflict in the segregated South, brotherhood and sisterhood on the long climb out. Stepping is an African-American dance form created by black fraternities and sororities that reaches back to West African tribes and forward to twenty-first century cities. Stories about coming of age, about losing and finding family, about staying afloat through hard times, and about giving back are spoken, chanted, and performed. Step routines link dance with histories of the heart, with geographies of hope, and with the all-terrain vehicle that is humor. Funded by the Mike Curb Institute for Music in Memphis, Tennessee, "Stepping" also features an original score composed and produced by Memphis musician Steve Selvidge with veteran session players from the city. This film represents a collaboration between producer/director Dee Garceau, co-producer Joann Selvidge, Director of Photography Eric Swartz, and a team of nine Rhodes College students who interned on the production. But the real credit goes to BGLO members who shared their stories and dances with us. They are the heart and soul of this film, and they held nothing back.