ilove2step

Hello everyone and welcome back. I would like to introduce to some, re-aquaint to most and present to all, Lady Margaret Fisher. She is a Chicago native and avid stepper. She has won numerous Worlds Largest contests and awards. But with all of her Worlds Largest wins and accolades I have found that she is one of the most humble women I know. Where most have ego’s beyond measure Lady Margaret stays within herself. Now, with her most recent feat, being voted by our steppin’ peers, she is Chisteppers No. 1 Female Heavy Hitter for 2011. She accomplished this by just being. But I have found that she is a woman of great means. Most folks equate means to money and affluence. I am liking it to life’s riches. The intangibles. Her knowing that her experiences have become her best teacher. I have always wondered what made this steppin’ phenom tick. What’s beyond that effervescent personality and radiant smile? So, I decided for my next blog I wanted to make an attempt to peel back the layers of this complex woman and see what lies beneath.

Lady Margaret in twenty questions, let’s go!!!

1. Who is your favorite steppin’ partner? Now before you answer that, take into account how long you’ve been steppin’. The obvious answer for me would be Dre (Andre Blackwell) but is there someone else besides him who just tickles your fancy when y’all dance?

Lady Margaret: Well Ronnie I have a few favorite partners for different reasons. There’s Dre because he brings excitement to my dances, Tyk brings creativity to my dance, Darrell Roberts brings romance to my dance, and Maurice Turner brings a little bit of all three. My favorite walking partners are Herk and Magic Mike.

2. What’s your favorite city to teach in outside of the midwest and why?

Lady Margaret: What’s my favorite city to teach in? That’s a difficult question because I love teaching anywhere but if I had to choose it would have to be Florida because of the weather, beaches, shopping, and there are other things to do beside steppin’. I can have fun too.

3. What’s your favorite steppin’ song?

Lady Margaret: My favorite steppin’ song is by Christina Aguilera “Loving Me For Me'”

4. Who’s style of steppin’ do you admire? Old School and New School?

Lady Margaret: My favorite style of steppin’ in ole skool is Tina Moore and my favorite new skool stepper is Danielle Wordlaw or what I like to call her, Danni Baby.

5. French fries or chocolate?

Lady Margaret: LOL!! Well, I love chocolate but I need to eat french fries, smiling.

6. What do you think of women who step in 4 to 5 inch heels?

Lady Margaret: What do I think of 4 to 5 inch heels they are for dinner and the bedroom!

7. Tell us something about you that would surprise most?

Lady Margaret: Tell you something that would surprise most, well, I don’t have nine kids LOL. That was a rumor but seriously I’m a big baby. I cry on sappy movies and I also send money to Feed The Children at 3 am, smiling.

8. I am seeing that the same instructors are teaching steppin’ all over the country. Drew Alexander and Tyk, just to name a couple, but actually, Drew is everywhere right now. When I come to Chicago, I prefer some others for example Snoopy Kings class at the FiftyYard Line and I am still trying to get to Donnie Davis’s class. But why do you think that nationally the number of instructors who are teaching from state to state bear the same name and face?

Lady Margaret: Why are the same instructors everywhere? That’s a good question. I would love to answer that but I really don’t know. What I do know is that women run most of the steppin’ organizations outside of Chicago. So if they want that man to come to their city that’s the way it seems to work. What I can tell you is this and that is if the out of towners don’t get their men together the dance will not go anywhere. There is a lack of strong leads. There are one or two strong leads in some particular cities though, but they are keeping the dance to themselves, so, hmm, I guess you can call it the alfa male syndrome.

9. What’s your favorite holiday?

Lady Margaret: My favorite holiday is my birthday LOL, just kidding. I would have to say Father’s Day. I had the best dad in the world. He taught me that I can do whatever I want if I want it bad enough and to also work hard. RIP Poppy.

10. You’ve been teaching for approximately 11 years, whats the most rewarding factor for you?

Lady Margaret: The most rewarding factor is when I’m teaching and my student’s get it. When that light bulb goes off. I see it all the time, they will do a move and a distinct smile comes over their faces. It’s a smile that says I don’t feel insecure, I don’t feel off, I feel good! Its nothing more rewarding to me than to see that smile.

11. Favorite Steppin’ DJ?

Lady Margaret: My favorite DJ’s now you’re trying to get me kicked out the clubs LOL. My first steppin DJ I ever heard was Sam Chapman at the East of the Ryan, Casper at The Other Place, but I was not steppin then. When I started steppin’ there was V103’s Eric “ET” Taylor and Mellow Kris!

12. How do you feel about all the accolades, namely, the most recent, the Chistepper steppin’ community voted you the number one female heavy hitter in 2011?

Lady Margaret: How do I feel about my accolades well the one I received from ChiStepper was a great surprise and I was humbled by the experience. I usually text people to ask them to vote for me but I didn’t this year. I would like to thank each person that voted for me.

13. If you didn’t step, what would your social outlet be?

Lady Margaret: If I didn’t step, well, I’m a house head but you can’t dance like that all night LOL! I thinks its hard not to step in Chicago even if you’re faking it. Growing up watching my sisters, aunts, and uncles step I don’t think I had a choice.

14. You have run into a lot of adversity on the steppin’ scene. How do you handle your haters, internally and externally?

Lady Margaret: How do I handle my haters, give their asses 15 feet because I don’t want to catch it! Just kidding, LOL!! There are always going to be haters and there’s a quote “we need haters to put fuel to our fire.” I just try to get through it to get to the next phase of my life.

15. How do you feel about promoters placing your likeness on their flyers/pluggers for their events without your knowledge? Would you ever sue? I find that there isn’t much accountability in steppin’ why do you think that is?

Lady Margaret: How do I like promoters putting my image and name of their flyers I DON’T! It has happened a few times that I know of. Now I have a Service Agreement made for me by a good friend, so if that ever happens again and they don’t have my Service Agreement I will sue. As for accountability I really don’t know how I feel. People have run a muck. There’s no structure for the business of the dance.

16. Your at Platinum 144 now. How’s that going?

Lady Margaret: Yes I’m at Platinum 144 ~200 W 144th St.~ Downtown Riverdale IL, every Sunday. Ok was that a plug LOL? I love being at Platinum 144 and they love me too. I was asked to start a Friday after work stepper’s set from 5-11 pm by the owners of the Platinum.

17. What are your plans for yourself when steppin’ has run it’s course?

Lady Margaret: Well I don’t really want to talk about to many of my plans but I am working on a movie called Fracture Fairytales which Lions Gate gave us a small budget!

18. Do you ever want to get married, and if so, how would you feel about your husband being a stepper? Husband now not boyfriend.

Lady Margaret: Getting married? Well I used to think that I wanted to be like Oprah and have a man. I do want to get married. I don’t care if he’s a stepper just as long as he loves me and respects me.

19. Do you have a bucket list and if so, what are some of the items on your list?

Lady Margaret: Do I have a bucket list, no I don’t. But I would love to teach Steppin in China!

20. What is your most guilty pleasure?

Lady Margaret: My most guilty pleasure is nice clothes. I love trying them on even after I’ve brought them. Don’t judge me LOL.

Well, steppers there you have it, Lady Margaret unscripted.

If you’re ever in Chicago check out one of her many classes:

Mondays at MOCHA CITY Beauty Lounge 4300 211th street (Lincoln Hwy) 6 – 8 pm

A Better Weigh 1933 w 95th street, Tues & Thurs from 6 – 7 pm and Sat. 11 am – 12 pm

Visiting Chicago and you wanna step with the No. 1 female heavy hitter in the game, Lady Margaret, you can find her at Platinum 144, location, 200 W 144th St., Downtown Riverdale, IL, every Sunday.

Until next time, Warmbrownshugga sending you all sweet steppin love.

Are you a stepper who frequents Twitter? Do you Tweet? Do you have Tweeps? I do. How about Facebook? I’m on Facebook with 728 friends and I just added one more which makes my body count 729. I can’t believe that I have all those friends. More than half of those are steppers from as far west as Washington State and as close demographically as the hardwood is to a steppers leather bottoms. With the exception of classmates and my family I couldn’t tell you who those folks are. I don’t know them from Adams house cat. So what links us is Chicago Style Steppin’. If I didn’t step I wouldn’t have more than a third of those friends. What’s ironic is that a handful have become folks I communicate with everyday and we have actually become good Facebook friends.

I receive all of my steppin’ set information through the social media networks. I can’t recall the last time I went to a steppin’ organization’s website to see what’s doing. But steppin’ websites were spread all over the bed during my infancy in steppin’ and that was around 2006. I would Google “Chicago Style Steppin’ during my night shift’s down times at work. I would research my new social outlet. I could not believe how much information was out there and what I was able to retrieve. The heavy hitters, steppin’ DJ’s, steppers with opinions and the proverbial stepper sets was just a Google search away. And Chicago had more going on than a county fair. Currently, there is no need to search for a steppin’ website because most steppers are either Twittering their thoughts or posting their pluggers on Facebook for their local weekly event in Chicago, it’s so-and-so’s birthday they are celebrating it at one of the many sets over the weekend, and I would be remiss if I left out the grand steppers ball with the mandatory color theme. Ya’ll know the over zealous newby who wants to rep their cities hospitality and to clock a dollar or two all at the same time. So you must bless it with your presence and don’t forget to purchase that table. No VIP…just a seat at a table. All on Facebook. Facebook has become my virtual periodical when it comes to steppin’ news and beefs. Yeah that’s right I said it. Ya’ll know a pissed off stepper with and ax to grind will cuss you out in a minute on Facebook.

The DJ Shorty Smooth Show (DJSSS) is a Facebook group with over 1,000 members. Deon Farr the group page’s facilitator asked a question and I’m paraphrasing “should you give the ring back…” this one post alone garnered more than 250 comments. That is sick. But in terms of reliability from group members and in being able to cultivate a constant flow of personal ideology, the tie that binds this is steppin’. I would place a wager on this fact, and that is, more than half of the members of the DJSSS group have never met each other in person. But the DJSSS group page is home to them and the warmth of family blankets the group. In my personal life I have never seen so many civil debates. Only in steppin’ and only on Facebook. Who needs a website when we can link up on a group page on Facebook and find out what steppers think about masturbation and whether in God’s eyes it’s appropriate or not? Yeah, that was a post and you know what, that thread had 30 plus comments. My mother raised me not to speak about religion and politics in a public forum. Boy have times changed. Mommy, I’m sorry.

How we as steppers obtain information as it relates to steppin’ events and so forth is through the social media networks and they aren’t going away any time soon. I frequent my Facebook page more than my Twitter account. As I make my way through my Facebook page and when checking my Twitter account I have new steppers following me on Twitter daily. My steppin’ Facebook friends are now obtaining dual social media citizenships. They are going from Facebook friend to Tweep. Social media networks are becoming the main source of advertisement for steppers mainly because it’s free. I see that some Facebook page groups are requesting that you pay to post your plugger on their group page. How ridiculous is that? You created the page for free and now you wanna make money off it, be careful there. That young white boys is gonna ask for a cut. When I first read that post chastising someone for posting without paying and was told, inbox me so I can send you an advertising package. I was like, damn are you serious. Anything for money. More importantly though, steppin’ groups are getting their information out to the steppin’ masses without having to pay a dime. What’s sweet is that stepper RSVP. Create an event page and see what happens. Not gonna get into how many invites get sent out in one swoop on an event page once it’s been created. Again, no cost to you. If I created one all 729 of my friends would get it and I would not have to expend any funds. Invites out and no postage purchased, loving that. So, if you want to get some info out to me, hit me up on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ilove2step or my Twitter @ilove2step and you know what, all 729 of my Facebook friends will get it. Just as I stated earlier social media networks are here to stay and they have become the best friends of those who love and participate in Chicago Style Steppin’.

Until next time, Warmbrownshugga sending you all sweet steppin love.

Author: ilove2step

Lady Margaret – Uncensored!!!

Steppin’ and Social Media Networks