Down-N-Dirty with Peter Robinson

• This is actually an issue that I’ve pondered. I couldn’t understand how a man could look at this dance, see the ratio of men to women and not want to take part of the Steppin community. When I go to Detroit and Chicago there seems to be a better ratio of men to women, never equal but a better ratio so there must be something different about Milwaukee. I’ve actually talked to a lot of men, steppers and non steppers, and what I think to be the issues are


• We don’t cater to Men and what men want enough. Because there is a dominate amount of women in steppin groups we fall victim to catering to women and not enough time on creating an environment for men.  I’ve been lucky enough to take classes in Chicago and the group that I was most comfortable with was the group that had female instructors working with men and male instructors working with women. The female instructors would work with a man for two songs and then they would switch. The first instructors gave me my move then I would work on the move with the second instructor while adding onto the move and the third instructor would add on to the combination and after I knew it I had learn a little something from every female instructor.  Now when I didn’t understand something they would ask a male instructor to demonstrate it for me then it was back to me and the female instructor. Needless to say I kept going back to that class. Let’s face it, I didn’t learn how to step to dance with a dude and this class offered the male female interaction, with instructors right away. One other thing this did for all men was to build up confidence because if you learned a move and you can do it with 6-7 female instructors then your confidence level of  performing that move at the next event was high.



• Men get frustrated faster than women. We need to get men dancing with women a lot faster then what we have done in the past. We need to reconsider the need of men learning the women’s part first before allowing him to dance with a woman. If I want to learn how to dance with a woman then I should be dancing with a woman from day one. Female instructors need to be patient with the men. I have noticed some intermediate/advance women dancing with a beginning male and the woman has a look of frustration on her face that affects the confidence of the person she is dancing with. I’ve even had women walk off from a man, in class rather than explaining what the move is. Now I’ve seen a lot of women learn new moves in workshops and class and when they were learning, the men that danced with them never walked off and left them on the floor in the middle of a dance but I see women do this in every class I’ve been to, including our class on Tuesday night. On Tuesday nights we may have every advance man in Milwaukee, and sometimes Advance men and instructors from Chicago and Detroit, come through our doors and they have enough patience to dance with every woman with respect and dignity. This keeps women coming back for more. I think if a woman walks into a CLASS and dances with a student and wants to walk off she should ask herself two questions: Is this the way I was treated when I learned? If I have an issue with patience, why did I come to a class? If we treat men with the same respect that the women are treated with we would attract more men. If I’m a man, non stepper, is in the club and observes a woman working with a male student and she walks off making a face in the middle of a dance, maybe that observer doesn’t want to learn how to step because of what he just witnessed. If she didn’t have patience with him why will she have patience with me?

Individual dance organizations are often their own worst enemies.  What can be done to put aside jealousies and misunderstandings to love, support and affirm unity amongst the various dance organizations in Milwaukee?

• People are fighting for status. People want to be the best group or instructor and they use methods that are unnecessary and detrimental to the Milwaukee dance scene, just to prove they are the best.  I will say this to anyone that has this as a motive: Ok you are the best. Now what? We have steppin events where groups will not advertise an event to their students because they have nothing to do with the event or they just don’t like someone involved in the other organization. Mean while to new steppers the only time they get a chance to dance is when their group has an event. We all should be supporting each other’s events.  If we really want to have a strong steppin community in Milwaukee we need to follow basic group etiquette.


• Don’t say negative things about other groups or individuals. The only reason someone would do this is to try to harm the reputation of the person or group, in an effort to make yourself/group look better than what they really are. And, if that is your purpose then students should reflect if they want to be around that negativity. I go out to have fun and dance. I teach to increase the amount of people socializing in the Milwaukee dance community.


•  Support one another. We understand that some people will not go certain places. When I go out I look for MSBU students. (I can do this because I have promoted the event in our class) When I find students I try to make them feel comfortable by dancing with them and introducing them to other advance dancers hoping they will dance with them. It is the instructor’s job to introduce their students to the rest of the dance community. With 7 groups, each group only needs to do 1-3 events per year and new steppers will have a reason to get stepper sharp once a month while experiencing something new and different. Each group is different and has something to offer let our students experience that.


• Don’t try to recruit other group’s members or students. This is important to seeing Milwaukee develop. When individuals go to someone else’s class and pull them to the back of the club and start trying to recruit students while they are in a class tells me a few things. First, you don’t know how to bring new people into the steppin community. Second, you don’t have ethical standards and finally you don’t understand what you are denigrating the steppin reputation to the bar/club owner and new steppers. Every time this happens a new stepper comes to the instructor and tells them that they were recruited. Once, a student decides to take a class from someone respect that students decision.


• Other then these three group etiquette rules, organizations will have to decide what type of legacy they want to develop. Organizations that fall victim to these practices by a few individuals will have to make the same decision that other groups in Chicago and Detroit have made and start to ask instructors not to visit their class. No one wants to go down that road and I hope the few people that engage in these practices will read these words and reflect on the reputation they are developing for the steppin community as a whole. Most classes want to continue to have classes, allowing everyone in so we can socialize after class. I would hate for that to end.

We are fortunate that the male population is pretty advanced in terms of their steppin game here in Milwaukee. However, I often hear complaints from some of the men that they are unable to continue to grow their craft due to lack of heavy hitter male instructors. What advice would you offer these men?

• I think people would be surprised by what instructors here have to offer. Most of us got to a certain level and then went to Chicago to learn the advance moves. If you still think the instructors here don’t have anything to offer you then short of going to Chicago for weekly class I would suggest to take advantage of workshops when we bring heavy hitters here to Milwaukee. We brought Andre Blackwell (Dre) 2 times and almost no one showed up. When I did the Men’s workshop I was going to bring Dre back to work with men but there was almost no response to this workshop. When we brought Keith Hubbard we had about 80 people show up to his free workshop but few showed up to his private classes. The easiest way to up the skill level of Milwaukee is to bring in heavy hitters that have been dancing for 20+ years  and have people sign up for private lessons so he can work you at your level but you have to be willing to show up and pay. These guys drive here from Chicago and often times will stay to hang out and dance afterwards but this isn’t free.


• If you really want to get better and you don’t think Milwaukee instructors have anything to offer you then take the workshops. From my point of view when we bring in heavy hitter after heavy hitter and no one takes the private class then there is no demand for us to keep bringing in heavy hitters.  There are a few people that take the class and sometimes, some of the people taking the class are intermediate dancers and they are paying for a private lessons when they should be getting their basics from class. You should not be taking a private class and you are still learning basic turns. Private classes are best for advance dancers that want combinations to work on not for people to learn how to skip a beat or how to do a rollout with a turn, but that’s a different story. What I will do is ask guys if they want us to start bringing in heavy hitters for private lessons but I think we may have to pre-sell time slots a week in advance, to guarantee it’s worth their time.

In your opinion, what is the biggest misconception about MSBU (Milwaukee Steppers and Ballroomers United)

• There are a two misconceptions about MSBU that I think are equal in value:
  • Lisa and Cynthia (Wilson) are mean or conceded and think too highly of themselves: I remember a few months ago we went to Indiana and sat at a table of other Milwaukee steppers. After hanging out with everyone one of the new steppers, who happen to be female said “I didn’t know you guys (Lisa and Cynthia) were this cool. Unfortunately, for some reason when women are confident it’s taken the wrong way but when people hang out with MSBU they are often surprised at how cool everyone really is
  
  
  • MSBU doesn’t support other organizations or events: This one really needs to be cleared up. MSBU has supported almost every event even when it doesn’t look like we have.  People have located event venues through MSBU. They have had their flyers remade and printed at a lower cost by getting help with MSBU. Other groups have come and got advice from MSBU on how to organize their annual event and each time MSBU has never asked to be recognized.  Often times other organizations don’t even acknowledge the help they have received from MSBU on their own. People would be surprise to find out who we have helped and how we have helped but because we want Milwaukee to grow we will not call them out more than what I’ve done here. Maybe their conscious will get to them.

There's a new wave of dancers popping up all over the city. Name three women and men you see as having the potential to be part of the elite group of really good dancers in Milwaukee.  What advice would you give to them as they continue to work to perfect their skills?

• Chris, Jessie and one other guy I cannot think of his name (I’ll edit the article when I get his name) are the men that have a lot of potential.
• Chris: is fun to watch a lot of energy he started off dancing which is cool.
• Jessie is another smooth dancer. The man could be in an oven and he won’t let you know that he’s hot. I see him doing new moves but I hope he is continuing with steppin class somewhere


• As far as women I have to say Ruth, Tawana and LaShawn. I think have a lot of potential. There are a lot of people coming up in various classes but I’ve had the chance to dance with these women and work the guys and they have a lot of potential.
• I’ve always liked Ruth. It’s hard to get her out to any events but she is a great stepper with the potential to take on anyone. If she were to compete and she found the right male lead she would take the world by storm


• Tawana is fun to dance with. She loves to learn the dance and picks up quickly. I will always have room on my dance card with Tawana.


• LaShawn: If you have seen me dance and I’m working a woman to death it’s probably LaShawn. She comes from a dancing family. Her mother steps her cousin steps with Dre and Company and dancing with LaShawn you can tell it’s in her genes. She is a natural: If you haven’t danced with her yaw got to try her out. (You can’t get her dizzy)


• The Advice I would give is to evaluate classes for your taste, find out which instructor(s) can give you the best instruction and keep taking classes from that goup. Keep going out to step as much as you can but find someone that can teach you, that you relate to and keep learning. These steppers are at a point where a lot of people stop taking class because they have the basics and they are dancing. But they haven’t gotten the intermediate/advance combinations yet. Also, when we do start bringing in heavy hitters for private lessons, take the workshops.

All the members of MSBU have special and unique gifts that make the group a whole.  What gifts do you bring to the table?

• This is a very good question; aside from the technical skills, I think I have a lot of patience. I will take time to help a 1st day, new stepper get on the correct beat and take his first 8 steps. I’ve taken time out to become an instructor and to hone my skills by taking classes in Chicago so I can bring an advance level of instruction from a male point of view. More than anything, I think having the patience to teach someone and calm them down when they cannot get a move is the most important gift that I bring to the table

When you think of dancers you admire, aside from great dance techniques, what personality traits do they possess that make them and all around genuinely appealing dancer?

• I like people who are having fun. They tend to be genuinely nice people who are willing to take their partner in to account. They can and will dance with the best and new steppers while making sure their dance partner is having a good time. As a man we have to understand this dance is about the relationship between a man and a woman. I will probably hear about this but I’m going to get a bit dirty on this one.


• The man ask the woman to dance = she says yes


• Now he has to take into account where she is at an not move too fast. She has had bad partners before and maybe unsure of this guy. Here experience tells her to be careful, she might get hurt.


• Now a man is always ready but the woman may not be so it’s his job to start off gentle and allow her to get warmed up. He has to understand she will do what he asks but she wants to be reassured that “this won’t hurt” and he’s not going to put her on Front Street and embarrass her. Once, she is comfortable and she has that little smile on her face = “Make It Do What It Do”


• The guys I like to see dance, do this with every woman they dance with.

There are a number of veteran dancers on the scene as well.  Name three men and women you enjoy watching that bring a unique flair to the dance.  Name what makes them unique and appealing.

• Ok MSBU aside and I’m going to keep it in Milwaukee because everything I do for steppin is about Milwaukee. I also have to name 4 guys because I wouldn’t feel like I’m being honest if I didn't so:


• Terry: He has a real smooth dance to him. We actually learned to step together and sometimes when I’m not dancing I check him out and he is always being innovative with the dance. I like his mixture and his flow and it’s cool to see guys going off in a smooth way


• Reese: He enjoys the dance and usually the woman he is dancing with is enjoying the dance as well. He dances with a huge amount of energy. Where does he get it from? Never know what you are going to get with Reese. Ok he’s not from Milwaukee but he’s been around us long enough.


• Shorty Smooth: Great flow, real smooth dancer. He understands the dance and can dance with anyone. (What you didn’t think I would name another male instructor in Milwaukee) He has great turns and when I was learning I would do what I thought was an advance move and he would always say “ok now do this with it”


• Dominique: What needs to be said? He’s one of the best out there in any state and is fun to watch. He doesn’t just step but he dances. There is a difference.




• On the women’s side:


• Candace: She can do just about any move. Her turns are on time and she understands how combinations flow differently depending on who’s the male she is dancing with.


• Ebony: She is like a rag doll. You can flip her turn her and pretty much do anything with her and she keeps on dancing without missing a step.


• Vicki: Her footwork is 2nd to none. I have a secret I’m going to share with the guys regarding Vicki. I have watched Vicki dance and I see their reaction to dancing with different men. Vicki can do any turn, enjoy the turn and smile when the dance is over but if you really want Vicki to enjoy the dance give her the advance turns give her some foot work and from time to time give her time to just dance. I mean let her hands go and let Vicki work the dance. She loves that. She never told me this but I’ve observed it. Trust me on this one.