The Essentials Step Team Perform at Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day of Play Event!

September has been a busy month for the Essentials, so a play date was definitely in order. But this was no ordinary play date. On Saturday, September 24^th the team invited kids all over Atlanta to learn the art of stepping as part of NICKELODEON’S WORLDWIDE DAY OF PLAY!

The Apex Museum, in the Castleberry Hill/Downtown area, hosted Atlanta youth as they partnered with Nickelodeon’s efforts to get kids active and healthy by shutting off their programming Saturday to encourage kids to get up and get out. In the Apex parking lot, children hula-hooped, hop-scotched, rapped, danced and were treated to a fashion show. All activities highlighted the energy and talent of Atlanta’s young people, so RCA’s step team was honored to add powerful steps and precise routines to the lineup.

But the occasion called for more than a mere step show.

Keeping to the spirit of the day, The Essentials asked the crowd, “to clap their hands and stomp their feet” to become part of the show. Step team members fanned out and taught the audience-turned-step team combinations of stomp and claps that created rhythmic sound in the tradition of the South African gum boot dance from which stepping hails.

Kids of all ages got to show what they could do as the whistle blew signaling the end of practice and the time to show and prove. Led by Essentials Step Team President, Eryn Davis, Step Mistress, Aliyah Cofer, eighth grader Rudy Elder, seventh grader Ryan Marshall and sixth grader, Erick Patterson; new team members added bass and treble to the their assigned line, thrilled to hear their contribution to the rhythmic routine.

The Essentials applauded the success of all who tried their hand at stepping and the audience applauded the surprise collaboration before the step team closed with the signature stroll where they profess that the Ron Clark Academy colors of blue and gold run deep down in their souls.   

And as shown by a Saturday afternoon spent teaching the community a new way to keep moving; service runs just as deep in the soul of the RCA Essentials Step Team.