Stepping Over the Color Line

Dance Tradition Popularized by African Americans Has All Races at Loudoun School Stomping for Joy

It was the third annual Stompfest, and a little-known step team, "Khaoz," was making its competitive debut.

When its turn came, the members clapped, stomped and slapped their thighs and chests in unison.

They got low. They "put a little walk in it."

By the time they closed with a saucy "Get off me!" and a final stomp of sneakers, the audience at Dominion High School in Sterling was roaring.

Khaoz went home that April night with the middle-school division's trophy.

It was a victory that coach Teresa Tracy, 39, did not foresee a few years ago when she started teaching step in the small western Loudoun County town of Purcellville, where no one even knew what it was. The dance -- made popular by African American fraternities and sororities -- is taught in many schools, universities and churches in the region, but it seemed an unlikely fit in the mostly white outer suburb.

But when Tracy started the team at Blue Ridge Middle School last year, it caused a sensation.

"You would be really surprised at how many white kids like it," Tracy said. "They don't feel like they should be doing it. They know it's a black thing, but they love it."

At Blue Ridge, where less than 4 percent of the school is African American, it's not just a "black thing," it's the most popular thing to do after school. Nearly 160 students signed up for the team this fall, and Tracy had to hold auditions.

The team, whose name is a play on the word chaos, is a pretty even mix of white and black students and includes steppers of Korean and Turkish descent, Tracy said.

Tracy, who is black, grew up in the majority-white town. She said she's glad to see so many white students interested in something associated with black culture.

The volunteer coach was the youngest of 14 children, and many of her siblings attended segregated schools. She moved to Fairfax County in her early twenties and had two children. Less than a decade later, after her father had a stroke, she moved back to Loudoun.