The Steppers competed at Yorkville High School on Jan. 29, and brought home fourth place with their “Space Jam” routine. It was their first time competing in two years due to the pause of all in-person activities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Steppers’ routines are usually five to 10 minutes long and are always changing, assistant coach Tamiaka Killins said. The routine has already changed from the way it was in January.

The team—also known as a “squad”—had been practicing two days a week since the beginning of the year. A few competitions were canceled due to COVID-19 and lack of interest prior to the one at Yorkville, which made this the first competition they were able to attend.

“[I was most proud of] the way we bounced back,” captain of the Steppers team Abena Yeboah ‘22 said. “It’s been two years, [so] I was just really proud of us.”

They did have struggles such as costumes not arriving in time and system malfunctions, but the Steppers were able to overcome it, Killins said. When they arrived at the competition, there were technical difficulties. Head coach and LT alumna MaCassa Johnson had access to a computer that was able to connect and play their music.

“When we got there, there was something wrong with their system, none of our music would play,” Killins said. “That was hard, scary, and [fixing it and getting fourth place felt] amazing.”

At the beginning of the season, the Steppers struggled with losing three members who transferred to different schools. Following that issue, two students who were main performers in the routine got sick before the competition.

“I’m just glad we were able to perform and no one got hurt,” Killins said.

Half of the team had never competed before because they had to skip a season due to COVID-19. Yeboah offered advice on ways to destress which helped make the other steppers less nervous, she said.

“I have this ritual that we always do on the bus and I always let go of all of my anxiety and we blast music,” Yeboah said. “Some of the Steppers were nervous since this was their first bus drive to a competition so just to scream and be like ‘come on, let’s dance!’ was really fun.”

They competed against seven other teams, won fourth place, and were noted for having good crowd involvement and comedy.

“[I felt] tremendously good,” Killins said.

They participated in the West Suburban Conference Diversity Show on March 11 and their next competition scheduled for the Steppers is on April 30 at LT.