Sterling 'Steelo' Lofton

Volume 3 episode 2. Welcome, welcome y'all.  Today's episode is with one of the legendary members of the The Era Footwork Crew,  Sterling Lofton aka ‘Steelo’.  Steelo is a 2020 CDF Lab Artist and has been developing “Sterling Publishing Company (SPC),” a new performance at the intersections of fashion and dance across Black history.  Like many other artists the pandemic has been challenging for Steelo’s creative process.  We will also be chatting about The Era’s performance of In the Wurkz at Links Hall in 2019.  The group says their Links Hall performance “represents their “community debut” of the group and the long developed project.  

I was fortunate enough to see this performance and remember walking away thinking that The Era is here to educate and also get you hyped. They're going to deliver a message and be always true to themselves. They are the shit. 

Our Episode 2 co-host is Christopher “Mad Dog” Thomas.  Mad Dog is also a footworker as well as an extremely motivated dancer, activist, and youth mentor.  Mad Dog is the Program Manager for Kuumba Lynx and teaches a footwork program at the juvenile temporary detention center as part of a social/emotional learning program. Mad Dog is also a 2020 CDF Lab Artist and is spending his lab year codifying his style of Chicago Footwork while developing new choreographies that tell the stories of how bodies react to certain traumas, including his own.