This year, sophomores Aaliah Liriano and Mariana Maison started Milton High School's first ever step team. Step is a form of dance that is a combination of African folk traditions and pop culture. Unlike other types of dance, it doesn’t need music because through a series of clapping, stomping and vocalization, the dancers create their own. According to Britannica.com, Step was created by African American sororities and fraternities, eventually being practiced as a competitive activity in high schools across the country, now including Milton High School.

According to Nicholas Marinilli, the club advisor, MHS once had a step club, but it died out around a decade ago. Liriano and Maison wanted to bring back step dance to the school, and beginning a team seemed like an amazing opportunity for people of color to have fun and express themselves through the art form of step.

Liriano said that she hasn’t always done step and that she actually used to be involved in cheerleading. But while she enjoyed cheerleading, she noticed there weren’t many people of color on the team here at MHS, and step dance caught her interest. “I decided to make a group where colored people would feel comfortable to share their unique abilities,” said Liriano.

On the newly created step team there are about thirteen girls. Marinilli says, “The majority of step club is sophomores and they’re really close friends, but I feel like the second we see someone who might wanna join step or like ever slows down or is interested and watches us practice, we're immediately like ‘Oh you should join!’ So we’re always seeking new members.” They meet every Tuesday after school for a one hour practice, and they’ve been working very hard as they planned to have their debut performance at pep rally. Since this club was reinstated only in late September, the team isn’t quite ready for competitions yet, but they hope to be in the future.

While practicing, there have been many challenges to overcome, one of the biggest being the need for everyone to be connected and synchronized. Synchronization is a key factor of step, as they need to stay together and connected in order to create a harmonious rhythm as one, one of the main aspects that define step dance. However, the step team’s hard work seemed to pay off, as in this year’s pep rally, the step team’s first performance embodied the unity as well as the power of step dance. Their routine impressed many, and excited MHS for the team’s bright future ahead.