New dance forms are appearing on the stage and screen based on the subversive Black social dance traditions of steppin' and vogueing.

CDF and the MCA collaborated to host a talk with dance makers Reggie Wilson (NYC) and CDF lab artist Darrell Jones (Chicago) about the Black body's role in understanding the changing cultural, political, and social realities. Blackhawk Hancock (Depaul University), whose ethnographic research led him to master the Lindy Hop as a frequent club goer, joined Wilson and Jones for this powerful discussion about the history of Black social dance, and their subversive dynamics in relation to race, culture and the body. What is the racial stratification between the Lindy Hop and Steppin'? How does cultural appropriation of social dance reflect on urban power struggles? What is the threat of the white mainstream to steppin' and vogueing subcultures?

This frank conversation about the nuanced cultural distinctions within Chicago, and between the social dance scenes of Chicago and New York City, took place at the MCA on March 17, 2007.