photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

Dumebi Enyinnaya, right, and Cierra Rivers, left, rehearse a dance routine for the Lawrence school district's step team summer "boot camp" on Thursday, June 3, 2021.

A week after the school year ended for the Lawrence school district, stomps, claps and yells echoed through the halls of Free State High School.

The sounds were emanating from the school’s auditorium, where members of the district’s step dance team were rehearsing.

The percussive sounds and vocals punctuate a tightly choreographed dance, but they also connect — and provide an outlet for — nearly 30 students looking to express themselves in ways they aren’t always able to.

“I saw it as a place where I could break out of my shell,” said M.C. Hill, a high school junior on the district’s step dance team. “I’m a pretty shy and introverted person, so it gives me the opportunity to be louder than how I usually am.”

Audrey Pope-Trowbridge, coach for the Unity Step Team, said that’s what she had hoped students would discover when she launched the program at Free State High School. It was also on display during one of the team’s rehearsals on Thursday, as Pope-Trowbridge repeatedly told the students to be louder during their routines.

photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

Audrey Pope-Trowbridge, a social worker for Free State High School and coach for the district’s step team, directs members of the team while rehearsing a dance routine on Thursday, June 3, 2021.

Pope-Trowbridge, who is a social worker for Free State, told the Journal-World that some students enter a large high school and just don’t know where they fit in. But the step team, which is a club rather than a sport, allows anyone to join and provides a space for those students to connect with the school and their classmates.

Additionally, as a Black educator, she knows that representation matters for students of color, who make up a significant portion of the team.

“It was an opportunity for them to do something they love and connect with as well as see themselves being represented,” Pope-Trowbridge said.

Stepping is a type of dance with connections to historically Black fraternities and sororities and includes complex stomping, clapping and chanting to create a rhythm for the choreography, rather than using music.

Pope-Trowbridge, who is a member of the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, launched the team as Free State’s Free Steppers about five years ago. While the club had lean early days, it has grown from the ground up and now includes students from other schools, she said.

Initially the club attracted only seven students and lacked space to practice and funding to operate. The team also struggled with time to rehearse, as some members were participating in other sports and activities.

But the team adapted, raising money through fundraising and often practicing on the weekends. But even then, there were challenges. Pope-Trowbridge said some students wouldn’t have transportation available on the weekends, and she would pick up students herself.

photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

Audrey Pope-Trowbridge, right, leads three members of the step team while practicing new moves during the team’s “boot camp” practice on Thursday, June 3, 2021.

However, the obstacles were no match for the dedication to the program. For example, Makhia Krause attended the rehearsal on Thursday after spending her morning at the LHS girls basketball conditioning.

The number of students participating has steadily increased — to about 26 students currently, Pope-Trowbridge said, including from LHS, Liberty Memorial Central Middle School and West Middle School.

The team also changed its name along the way. The Free Steppers are now the Unity Step Team — a name chosen by the students themselves. Pope-Trowbridge said she liked having “unity” in the name because it not only recognized the participation of several schools, but also conveyed the team’s core value. The message of unity has been on display when the team has performed as part of Martin Luther King Jr. and Juneteenth celebrations.

The team performs for the schools about three times a year and is also considering participating in competitions.

But outside of performance, the team works on personal improvement. Unlike sports, the step team is an extracurricular activity that does not exclude students for poor grades. The team offers an outlet for students who may struggle academically and need something to help them stay connected to school.

“It offers access to kids and a reason to want to be here,” Pope-Trowbridge said. “I’ve had kids who know school is not their thing, but because they are part of this they all of a sudden are showing up. … If I can give them a reason to want to be at school, I’m going to do that.”

photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

Makhia Krause, a Lawrence High School student, listens to other step team members after arriving at rehearsal on Thursday, June 3, 2021. Krause came to the step “boot camp” at Free State High School after already spending her morning at LHS basketball conditioning.

She has noticed that some members go from not being interested in school at all to being a strong member of the team and developing a sense of school pride.

The team focuses on empowering members. While students are often told to be quiet in the classroom, Pope-Trowbridge said, stepping gives them a license to be as loud as they want and to express themselves in ways that feel comfortable.

That’s an idea that resonated with Dumebi Enyinnaya, who will be a senior this fall. She said she joined the team to build confidence in herself.

“I don’t like when people tell me to change who I am, and through step I get to express who I am with no limits,” she said.

But what’s kept her coming back is the camaraderie with her fellow students.

“Everybody here has become family to me,” Enyinnaya said.

photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

Dumebi Enyinnaya, center, helps explain to other members of the step team a routine they were rehearsing during the team’s summer “boot camp” on Thursday, June 3, 2021, at Free State High School’s auditorium.

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