It’s 9:00 on a Thursday night and the Dana Center dance studio is booming with the sound of 56 stomping sneakers. Welcome to practice for the Bentley step squad, whose members are bringing an African beat to campus and shaking up the Boston dance scene.

Inspired by traditional African dance, stepping has been popular on college campuses for more than 100 years. Teams of dancers combine clapping and stomping patterns to create synchronized, rhythmic sounds. The Bentley group was formed in 2003.

Native Bostonian Kendale Williams ’11 (pictured above) is the squad’s vice president. His résumé includes a summer stint at Alvin Ailey Dance Camp.

“We learned modern, jazz, tap and ballet,” he says of the camp, which the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater sponsors at locations around the country.  “It was amazing.”

Years of dance experience are not required to join the squad, however. There are no auditions, and all 28 members perform, regardless of skill. On campus, the squad is formally known as FIRE (Fierce Individuals Reaching Excellence). The group’s motto – Diversifying Bentley One Step at a Time – is epitomized by its membership, with students representing varied ethnicities and backgrounds.

The group’s adviser, Claudette Blot, was a stepper at her own alma mater, Wilberforce University in Ohio. She appreciates the Bentley squad’s “all for one” spirit.

“To be successful at step, you need to work as a team – and this group does,” says Blot, who directs the university’s Summer Transition Education Program. “Teamwork is what Bentley does best.”

Practice takes place three nights a week, two hours at a time; members also log an hour a week of workout time in the gym. The squad’s routines, which average a physically demanding 10 minutes, are choreographed by Williams and sophomores Sid Diaz McCree and Dimitry Marcelin. This year, the group has incorporated chair and cane props to boost sound and visual interest.

“When you use canes, the beats are more drum like instead of just stomping and clapping,” explains Williams. “They definitely bring our stepping to another level.”

All of that practice readies the group for competitions throughout the academic year. In the days before a meet, the squad chooses participants based on their performance during practice. Each routine is judged in 10 categories, including uniformity, creativity, complexity, appearance and crowd appeal. In fall 2008, the Bentley team amazed local rivals by winning prestigious invitation-only contests at both Harvard and Tufts.

For squad president Elaine Carroll ’10, the excitement is still palpable. “People were cheering, everyone was hugging and jumping up and down, and cameras were flashing everywhere,” she remembers. “You don’t feel that alive at any other time.”
 
The group also performs regularly at campus events such as Homecoming and the Hindu festival Diwali, and hosts an annual spring contest for high school and college step teams.

Right now, a priority is acquiring team uniforms. Partial funding will come from a nonprofit program at Gillette Stadium, where students can earn $50 a day by working the concession stands during games and special events.

Community service is on the group’s dance card as well. This spring, members are working with Cradles to Crayons, which provides clothing, school supplies, and other basic necessities to children in the Boston area.