Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
From left, Eastern New Mexico University students Kyanna Walton, Gabriel Ruiz and Kyree Mackey practice a routine during the stomp dance workshop Monday evening in the Campus Union Building Ballroom. According to Mackey, stomp dancing is a style of dance that utilizes the entire body and originated in Africa.
PORTALES — Dance can be a conduit through which performers release all of their energy. But for two Eastern New Mexico University students, the art form is also a vessel in which they share their African-American culture.
Kyree Mackey and Kyanna Walton of The Elite Hound Stepperz dance team have been practicing a type of dance known as "stomp" since grade school.
Stomping involves a combination of hand claps and both lower and upper body movement to form complex routines, according to Mackey, who added the style is informed by African culture.
"It used to be part of their tribal rituals. They would use their whole bodies to celebrate the gods. It was a part of the African tribal dances, so the fact that this is 2017 and we still have that part of our African descent in us, to do the stomping, that's what I find cool about it. It's something that's seemingly so old, but we still do it today," she said.
Walton, who helped found The Elite Hound Stepperz in her freshman year at ENMU, feels a compulsion to share the wholly unique style with others.
"I know when we first started, people were like, 'What is that? How do you do it? Can you show us?' I just want people to know what we do to have fun, how we express ourselves," said Walton.
One such curious spectator, Gabriel Ruiz, was invited to help Walton and Mackey at a Monday night event after he expressed a desire to learn how to stomp.
"Watching Kyree do it, it's like, 'Man, I wish I could do that.' Then she told me, she's like, 'You can be one of the volunteers to help teach people.' I was like, 'Yeah, I'll give it a shot, why not?'" he said, citing the experience of performing in front of others as his primary reason for participating.
"Getting up there on stage is just like, everybody must experience this thing, whether it's public speaking or anything like that. It's just a good experience," he said.
Mackey said that her desire to share stomping with an unfamiliar audience parallels her desire to tell others about her culture.
"I'm proud to be African-American, and so if there's something that other people on campus don't know about my culture, I'm happy to share it with them," she said.
