Review: Step Afrika!’s ‘Holiday Step Show’ is back and better than ever

The company of Step Afrika!’s ‘Magical Musical Holiday Step Show’ at Arena Stage. Photo by Jati Lindsay.

At its baseline, Step Afrika!’s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show is joyful, inclusive, and soul-filling, but this year’s program is a tour de force. Almost everything audiences have grown to love about the performance is dialed up a notch.

Some musicals market themselves as interactive, but this one delivers beyond expectation. The audience is the show’s heartbeat, and we’re alive in the performance from the very moment we pick up our noise-makers at the theater’s entrance.

To top things off, the acrobatics, choreography, drumming, musicality, attitude, and wardrobe of the splendid ensemble cast (Kenneth L. Alexander, Nya Christian, Jerod Coleman, Ariel Dykes, Keomi Givens Jr., Leander Gray, Kamala Hargrove, Terrence Johnson, Conrad R. Kelly II, Jemeema S. Montrose, Isaiah O’Connor, Keanu Powell, Ericka Still, Brie Turner, Joseph Vasquez, Pelham Warner Jr., Robert Warnsley, and Treshawn Williams) are all elevated in this year’s rendition.

Can we just talk about the hair and wardrobe (by Courtney Johnson and Sabrina Simmons) for a second? These two elements of the show punctuate Step Afrika!’s underlying message that this is a celebration of Blackness, African heritage, and all the diaspora.

Morever, the show is a case study in the fact that Black culture is American culture, offering a warm welcome to viewers from any background to feel engaged and acknowledged.

For kids from one to 92, there is joy, laughter, and the Nutcracker Slide to delight in.

The only ingredient missing from the heartwarming cup of hot cocoa that is Step Afrika!’s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show would be the signature beatboxing they’ve become known for.

Nonetheless, the show has an incomparable wow factor. Thanks to Mfonison Akpan (artistic director), it teeters on being both an enchanting winter wonderland and a new-age edition of Bring It On. Rider the Reindeer and Popper the dancing Penguin are hilarious additions to the show that amp up the fun step competition that takes place midway.

Led by an impeccable emcee (Pelham Warner Jr.), this iteration of Step Afrika!’s holiday extravaganza just might be the crown jewel of the company’s 30th anniversary season.

Founded by C. Brian Williams in 1994, Step Afrika! has steadily built a name for itself on the world stage. After decades, stepping is finally earning recognition as a multisensory American art form on par with jazz, tap, and other revered styles of dance.

While Step Afrika! is often praised for its electrifying choreography and spellbinding percussion, I found that the moments of stillness, unpredictable silences, and subtle transitions woven throughout the show were what kept me leaning in. The show is much more than a spectacle — it’s an enthralling sensory experience rooted in history and packed full of joy. I suspect that combination is what keeps folks returning year after year.

For those curious to see how Step Afrika! will reinvent itself next, you’re in for a treat. Through their partnership with Arena Stage, Step Afrika! is slated to continue riveting hearts and minds well into 2025 and beyond. Next up is their Step Classic this coming February. In tandem with Black History Month, it will unite community, culture, and creativity into a three-day celebration of stepping inspired by HBCU classics.

Until then, I’ll be grooving to the Nutcracker Slide and snacking on my favorite gingerbread cookies!