Chicago-Style Stepping (also known as Steppin') is an urban dance that originated in Chicago and continues to evolve nationwide and overseas, while defining its unique style and culture.
"Chicago-Style Stepping" makes reference to other urban styles of dance found throughout the United States in urban enclaves such as Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.[example needed] The partner dances that began in Chicago during the big band era came from the east coast Swing dances the Jitter Bug and the Lindy Hop.
The Bop emerged in the late 50's and 1960's when dancing at clubs and ballrooms flourished in the City.
The youth of the late 60's in the high schools of Chicago began changing the movement of the partner dance from a circular rotation to a straight line featuring a north and south pattern.
The basic characteristics of the Chicago Bop was smooth, cool, less acrobatic and done with one hand.
In 1971 with the release of the JB's song entitled "Gimmie Some More" the younger generation of dancers created another variation of the partner which was called "The New Bop".
[1] The term Chicago "Bop" was used to describe the dance form by Chicagoans until the early 1970s.
Prior to that time "Bop" was a universally known term with its origin beginning sometime between 1945 & 1950 to express music and dance.
Artist such as Grover Washington, Jr.; Michael Jackson; Earth, Wind and Fire; Average White Band; and especially James Brown (J.B.'s Mono-rail) all had hot stepping tunes aside from many others.
The dance bears similar characteristics to New York Hustle and West Coast Swing.
If you are a new school 6-count follower you typically start a little earlier on the downbeat with the right foot on step #5.
An instructor by the name of LC Henderson decided to improve the clarity of the count and replaced the word "step" with numbers.