The step team of Central High School in Springfield will vie for a shot at performing in the National High School Performing Arts (NHSPA) “Steptime at the Apollo” Step Championship in Harlem, New York.
The bracketed tournament will begin virtually, with eight teams paired off in head-to-head matches. The Central High School Step Team, the seventh seed, will face off against second seed Xplosive Stepperz of Brentwood, New York.
The final four teams will get to compete at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in April.
“These talented high school steppers have an unbelievable opportunity to compete for a National Championship at the Nation’s most storied historically black theater in the most world-renowned black cultural Mecca, Harlem,” said Jessica Remo, the founder and CEO of World of Step, a youth step platform, educator and producer. “This is the Superbowl of Step, being played out in the Madison Square Garden of performing arts venues.”
Originally established in 2002, the Central High School Step team was brought back in 2021, and is one of the region’s best high school step teams, according to a press release.
The club’s 15 steppers help promote step throughout the region, and provide students a place to feel they belong.
They can often be seen performing at home sporting events.
Supporters of Central High School’s step team can help send them to New York by voting in the fan bracket, open from March 13 through March 17.
