The Muhlenberg College community includes a wide variety of activities and clubs for students to participate in and have their talents showcased and voices heard. One of the clubs on campus is able to do both at the same time with the power of step.
The Mayhem Step Team is Muhlenberg’s first step team, and was started in November of 2019, according to Trevon Young ‘22, the team’s co-captain. The group’s founding members included Young, Jordan West ‘23 and Kaiyah Gardner-Williams. The club had to be dispersed due to COVID-19 and couldn’t become the full and united group that they are today until this semester. Matthew McCray ‘24, the team’s current captain, also started a club at the end of his first year and decided to join forces with Young and his existing group. McCray stated, “I came in my freshman year wanting to create the step team and by the end of my spring semester I got Eric Thompson ‘10 to be a sponsor for the team and that’s how my step team was created.” Eric Thompson is the current associate director of admissions and coordinator of transfer admissions. McCray and Young came together to form the Mayhem Step Team.
The Mayhem Step Team continues to flourish this semester as the club refocuses and adds more members. The team is composed of McCray as captain, Young as co-captain, West as stroll instructor and Bryson Brunson ‘25 as public relations. With a new class of first-year students on campus, the club has found new members and has formed a new role in the ‘Berg community.
“It’s basically a group geared to promoting multicultural awareness in the form of dance and movement of steps through various forms of community.”
Trevon Young ’22
“Fortunately, this semester we found the freshmen, and we created the step and bonded together. We showcased it here at the student activities fair. Since then, we have been called Mayhem. It’s basically a group geared to promoting multicultural awareness in the form of dance and movement of steps through various forms of community,” stated Young.
The club first performed at the student activities fair on Sept. 3, marking an exciting start for all that lies in store. The performance was energetic and fun as six young artists utilized their bodies to make movements and create ripple effects amongst one another.
To prepare for these performances, the group meets on Sundays from 12-4 p.m. to rehearse, or 12-2 p.m. depending on people’s schedules. Young and McCray come to every practice with a set of movements and choreography. However the movement still allows for group exploration and growth. The students are able to practice in a space allotted by the Muhlenberg Black Students Association. McCray mentioned, “Rehearsals go pretty well. We have warm-ups, which is basically doing up and unders where we do various clapping and rhythmic steps or styles. We do over-unders, which is just you clap over our legs and then under our legs and do it repeatedly. Then we stretch and just check in with everyone to see how they are doing. Then we go into doing various steps that we already know and then create from those steps a full performance.”
The choreography allows for a more devised experience for the participants so they can shape the piece as well, with the group members being asked to contribute. When shaping performances, McCray mentions how the group pulls from a roster of already focused and completed movements.
West echoes the community aspect of the group and the rehearsal process. West declared, “The rehearsal process builds character and teamwork. We don’t just breeze through routines, if one person doesn’t understand one part then we will all keep repeating that part. No one gets left behind and we push each other to grow. I appreciate the space to collaborate with my teammates because even though it’s tough at times, I know my teammates are working hard too.”
Young is also accommodating of different members’ personal conflicts and offers rehearsals on Saturdays as well to avoid conflicts. “I can say the team has been very dedicated and has already covered a lot of material that is community based, and when I [say] community, everyone’s able to add on to it,” Young said.
“The first performance had so much energy!”
Jordan West ’23
The next performance for the team is on Oct. 30 in Seegers Union in the Great Room. Young hopes the experience will include schools and performances from outside the Muhlenberg area and allow for more of a traditional step show or dance competition. McCray shared that it will be a large step show and how the team has been rigorously preparing for the date. If the current COVID-19 guidelines allow, the performances could include outside step teams and showcase how vast and diverse this form of movement is.
The work of the group is extremely important for the campus, as it offers a new perspective for Muhlenberg students. West said “When students go to the performances I hope they gain exposure to a culture they have never seen before. A culture that can be misunderstood and sometimes overlooked. The first performance had so much energy! The crowd truly embraced the team and gave us the fire to shut it down at our next performance on October 30th!”
Johnny: Great article – very informative. Wishing you much success.