De Barker was about to start high school at Paseo Academy when she received a stern warning from her older cousins, “You better not come to this school not knowing how to two-step.”
That summer, she watched, learned, and practiced the dance for hours on end to make sure she didn’t embarrass her relatives. For Barker, who today is known as the “Queen of the KC Two-Step,” this was the beginning of a decades-long mission to master, preserve, and spread the good word about Kansas City two-step.
“If you didn’t know how to two-step when you went to high school, you couldn’t be a part of the cool kids,” says Barker. “Guys would even get beat up if they didn’t know how to two-step. It wasn’t about the nice clothes or who had the fancy shoes. It was about the two-step.”
The Kansas City two-step is a synchronized smooth-as-satin partner dance unique to KC that seems simple on paper but looks like magic in practice to the uninitiated.
It’s a ballroom-style dance with a repetitive six count basic pattern — right foot forward, left foot forward, left foot back, right foot back, then a rocking motion of right step then left step – then repeat and always stay on the beat.
The basic framework is always there, but what makes a good two-stepping pair is when the male leads their partner through a mix of perfectly synchronized but spontaneous twirls, spins, and flourishes.
“It’s a creative thing; it’s not a rigid or all the way orderly type of deal,” says filmmaker Stinson McClendon, who made a documentary on KC two-step. “It’s about a couple synching and finding their personal and paired rhythm together while dancing.”
Similar regional dances are popular in other cities. There’s the Chicago Step, which was made famous by R. Kelly’s 2003 “Step in the Name of Love” video. Minnesota has hand-dance, St. Louis has the bop, and Detroit has what they call ballroom, all of which incorporate elements of the two-step, but KC two-step is a one and only.
“The Kansas City Two-Step is only really done here,” says Barker.
History of Two-Stepping
KC two-step was born in the late 1950s, and McClendon says it was a natural evolution from the high-energy jitterbugs and Lindy Hops of the big band era.
KC was an epicenter of big band dance halls during the 1930s and ’40s when big toss-your-partner-around dances were all the rage. However, the prevalence of big bands started to dwindle in the 1950s due to costs and evolving tastes.
More mellow music like Doo-wap, R&B, and Motown began to take over the airwaves. Music venues also became smaller, going from large dance halls to smaller settings with less floor space and a jukebox.
As the times changed, so did the dances — or as Barker puts it, they had to come up with something a little more low-key, something a little more cool.
“Going from the Lindy Hop and that big ballroom, they had to taper their dancing down into something a little more quaint,” says Barker. “It started with dancing in a little square, and then the teenagers in the ’60s created Kansas City two-step as we know it.”
Barker says the roots of the dance run even deeper, tracing back to the resilience and creativity of enslaved Africans. Barker points out that even during slavery, slaves entertained themselves through song and dance as a way to help to get through it. This spirit of using music and dance as a balm for the soul continued long after slavery, evolving with each generation.
“Black folks are very creative, and young people seem to change things every generation anyway,” says McClendon. “We developed a style; we went from being wild throwing people around to really being cool.”
Despite what new dances would come and go, for decades, the two-step remained a cornerstone of Kansas City’s Black youth culture. As the original two-steppers aged and hip-hop exploded on the scene in the 1990s, KC two-step’s popularity waned among younger generations.
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Two-Stepping Revival
Kansas City two-stepping never died, but by the early 2000s it was on life support and rarely seen outside places and events where “old” people gathered and re-lived the good old days.
“Kansas City two-step was about dead,” says Barker. “Young people didn’t touch it; they thought it was just for old people.”
Barker moved to California for a job after college but returned to KC in 1999. She saw that two-step was fading and became determined to help save it. She began teaching the first formal KC two-step classes around town in accessible spaces like community centers.
In 2003, she helped create the Big Step Off dance competition, which featured $10,000 in prize money for the best two-steppers.
Rodney Thompson and Stinson McClendon had the idea, and tapped Barker to gather the city’s best steppers. Thompson and McClendon also made a documentary, “A Conversation in Dance,” that covered the build-up to the Big Step Off finale. The event helped spur a renewed interest in KC two-step as clubs around town filled with couples practicing and swiping a few creative moves from those around them.
Today, the renaissance of two-stepping is evident across Kansas City. There are several organized two-stepping groups and almost every night of the week you can find two-stepping classes or two-stepping nights at local clubs and venues. If you want to keep up and chat with other two-steppers, there are several active KC two-step groups online.
However, in a world with an emphasis on multiculturalism and where Black culture is regularly appropriated by other races, KC two-stepping remains predominantly the pride and joy of Black Kansas City.
A New Generation of Steppers
With most of the early two-steppers in their 60s and 70s, saving two-stepping requires constantly attracting new and younger people to the dance. Baker’s approach is not to dismiss young folks but to learn their dances before showing them the two-step.
On Tuesdays, she hosts a one-hour line-dancing class at the Linwood YMCA that’s immediately followed by a one-hour two-step class. Each week, it’s amazing how many people stay around for the two-step class.
By holding the class in a community facility, rather than a club, it also helps make learning the dance more accessible to individuals, particularly youth.
“Since we’ve passed [KC two-step] on, the younger people have started to notice it
and make it their own,” says Barker. “It’s almost like ‘we see y’all,’ they are a little more fancy with a little more showmanship; they’re on 10 most of the time.”
Younger two-steppers like Brianna Addison, 27, hope to keep the tradition alive even if they are putting their own stamp on it. Addison says she likes the older, more laid-back style that she learned from her relatives but says she notices generational differences.
“I definitely feel like the younger generation really just move faster,” says Addison. “But I think it all comes down to feeling out the music, feeling out the beat, and feeling out your partner.”
Despite these changes, Barker emphasizes that the core elements of the two-step remain. The lead-and-follow dynamic, the respect between partners, and the cool style continue to define the dance. She sees her role as not just teaching steps, but passing on a legacy.
“It’s not about me, a product, or anybody else: Nobody owns two-step,” says Barker. “It’s expressing our roots, our longevity, and our culture.”