This video is about Black Reign Step Team of Syracuse University.
New York, NY – Syracuse University’s step dance team, Black Reign, will compete in UpStaged Scholastic Productions’ UpStaged 1: Step and the City, the National Collegiate Performing Arts (NCPA) ™ Step Championship. UpStaged is a diversified student performer platform, and will host the event on Saturday, February 8, 2020, at 7.30pm at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center (1941 Broadway at W. 65th St).
The highly ranked Orangemen steppers face off with their old Big East rival St. John’s as top contenders for the UpStaged step championship and all-American step recognition. Black Reign is the only non-greek step team on Syracuse University's campus. Established in 2005, Black Reign continuously showcases the art of step through fellowship, discipline, unity, and precision. The team faces off agains their old Big East rival, St. John’s Step Ya Game Up in an early round.
Tickets for UpStaged 1: Step and the City are $69-199 and available by visiting bit.ly/UpStaged1Tix, calling 212.721.6500, or in-person at the box office of Alice Tully Hall. For more information on UpStaged, visit UpStagedU.com.
The winner of the 16-team bracket-style competition will walk away with the UpStaged College National Champion title, and top finalists will receive UpStaged NCPA Step All-American recognition, and a share in over $5,000 in prize money. Step, talent, and modeling agents will be in attendance to select performers for Step Afrika and Off-Broadway’s Stomp, as well other talent and modeling castings.
UpStaged 1: Step and the City features a dynamic new performing arts championship format, like collegiate athletic brackets, with one on one matches in quarters, semis, and finals, where the winner advances in NCAA tournament style. Celebrity judges include the legendary star of Off-Broadway’s Stomp, John Sawicki, and Step Afrika CEO/founder Brian Williams.
Scheduled during the height of New York Fashion Week at the largest U.S. performing arts center, the championship line-up will also feature top teams from Buffalo State College, Emory University, Lincoln University, Mercy College, Merrimack College, St. John’s University, Temple University, Tufts University, and Yale University.
Featured in the films Stomp the Yard and Spike Lee’s School Daze, and the documentary Step, step dance is rooted in African-American competitive group song and dance rituals incorporating the entire body as an instrument to produce rhythms and sounds involving aspects of cheer, gymnastics, breakdance, drill team, and call-and-response.
Step represents the first among many performing genres, like NCAA sports, for which UpStaged is building competitions. Currently, 480,000 NCAA athletes are efficiently organized and marketed in 19-21 men’s and women’s sports, while 7.5 million college and high school performers in 35 genres remain a fragmented landscape without overriding national structure.
