Skitting (Stepping)

South African Stepping 'Skitting' is an underground dance style that originated in South Africa. It has two main styles, the original style, often referred to as Truth Style, and Float Step/Heel-Toe. Stepping is a very creative dance style, with original moves being applauded by the stepping community, and 'copying' of moves Frowned Upon. This has allowed for a rapid evolution and expansion of the dance style, with many communities (such as schools) having their own unique version of stepping (which will be loosely based on one of the Main Styles).

Stepping is particularly popular in Johannesburg, where it originated as well as Durban and Capetown and is prominent on the club scene.

History

As stepping is an 'underground' dance style, its origins were not documented very well. It is GeneRally accepted though that it started around the mid to Late 2000s, with the first very successful video appearing on YouTube.com on 2011/09 (in the form Basement jams:fox "). This video has been widely accepted as the most successful stepping video to date with more than 40 000 views .

Stepping videos next big evolution came on May 5th 2011 on YouTube.com, in the form of the video'"BASEMENT JAM: Slimz" created by Gavin Langley, which was the first professionally recorded and edited stepping video. Not even two days later (7 May 2011) Kyle Wilsnagh became the first person to showcase stepping on Television, in an advertisement for a Tiger Wheel And Tyre promotion where, encouraging people to "Get your moves on" and submit stepping videos to an online competition. Basement Jam has since become a series of stepping videos showcasing various unique styles of stepping and Basement Jam has become a crew itself, and many may say the best skitting crew in the country.

The first major evolution of the stepping dance style appeared on YouTube.com on 2011/08/02, the video "Float Step" filmed by Gavin Langley and choreographed by Joseph R Henry was uploaded and showcased a style of stepping that had almost never been seen before. It shared virtually no moves with Truth Style stepping, as the style gives the appearance of the dancer "floating". This video created a huge wave in the online stepping community and Float Step opened doors to a whole new creative dimension in stepping, leading to many new dance moves being developed.

Main Styles

Truth Style

The Truth Style of stepping is considered the original form of stepping. It is characterised by the base move, the Criss-cross. Many steppers develop their own moves in order to show their originality and gain more respect from peers, as originality is encouraged within the stepping community. These moves are not given names most of the time though, this is due to the fact that stepping is mostly an underground dance style and learning and development of it is largely informal.

Float step

The float step is the most popular form of stepping and the main type of stepping done by major dance crews such as basement jams and rooftop jams. In this style one of your legs is repeatedly bouncing up and down while the other does various moves which gives the impression that you are floating.

Social Impact

Stepping is a great way of meeting new people and this can be done by skitting at school and gaining peoples attention or by going to auditions held by various stepping crews.