Stepping Out
Sixth-grader Sidney Lamousnery ’31, who has been dancing since she was two, recently added choreography to her list of dance pursuits.
Story by Sarah Abrams
Photos by John Gillooly and Kjeld Mahoney
At the beginning of the school year, sixth-grader Sidney Lamousnery ’31 was asked if she might be interested in putting together a step-dance routine for the upcoming Winter Assembly—a festive all-school get-together that takes place in December before students leave for winter break. It would also be performed at the MLK Day Assembly in January.
At 12, Lamousnery had been dancing since she was 2, but step dance—a rhythmic series of percussive claps and footwork—was still a relatively new dance form for her, and she remembers feeling a little hesitant. She thought about asking a few friends for help, she recalls, but then it all just started coming together.
“That weekend I got home and began testing out beats, trying to find a rhythm, something that might work,” she says. “I stood there in front of my iPad recording different possibilities, because if it was good and I didn’t catch it on camera, I might forget.” It wasn’t long before she had put together something that she liked—a lot.
“I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited to share what I had created,” she remembers. “I knew they were going to like it.” The following Monday, Lamousnery showed what she had come up with to JoAnn Brown, the Lower School’s dean of teaching and learning, and Kim Alston, the Lower School learning specialist. Brown and Alston are the founders of the Lil’ Steppers, the school’s step team for students of color in grades three through five, which was recently expanded to include students in grades six through eight.
Brown and Alston couldn’t have been happier when they saw what Lamousnery had created. “It was beautifully choreographed,” says Brown. “The fact that she created a step routine within a couple of days was just so impressive. We shared it with the Upper School’s step-team leaders, Shaleka Maddix ’26 and Christina King ’27, and they said, ‘We don’t need to create a routine for you all; let’s just use Sidney’s. Hers is phenomenal.’ So we went with it.”
I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited to share what I had created.
Step dance was something both Brown and Alston knew a lot about, having participated as step dancers in college and high school. “Stepping is a passion for both of us,” Brown says, “as an African American representation of music, rhythm, stomp, and dance that we wanted to share with the community.” From the beginning, the Lil’ Steppers have partnered with members of the Upper School’s step team, 898, Trinity Hartridge ’23, Jaiden Delva ’24, and Oluwatamilore Adewumi ’24, who help introduce step to the young dancers.
Performing arts and cocurricular activities—such as dance, robotics, and math competitions—provide opportunities for Milton students to work together across grades and academic divisions, often providing meaningful and lasting mentorship connections among older and younger students.
“They really were wonderful mentors to the students, teaching them all the components of the steps,” says Brown, who is delighted that the program recently grew to include Middle School students.
“We’d wanted to grow the program beyond the Lil’ Steppers in the Lower School and our partnership with the Upper School 898 Step Team. Including the Middle School was the way to do it, and we now have a K–12 step team,” she says.
“For some of our third-graders,” Brown says, “step was new, so we would help them. It’s about eye/hand coordination and keeping to the beat and rhythm. For some, it was really challenging, but they got it.”
The Lil’ Steppers’ performances—at both the Winter Assembly and the MLK Day Assembly—were great successes. “We stole the show,” says Brown, “and Ms. Alston and I are incredibly proud that Sidney’s talent got to be showcased.”
In addition to her participation in step dance at Milton, Lamousnery explores dance outside school, studying tap, ballet, and jazz twice a week at a studio near her home and entering dance competitions around Boston. The hours she devotes to dance are long, but “it’s not a sacrifice,” she says, “if it’s your passion.”
And now choreography can be added to her résumé. “It is so much fun when you’ve created something you like,” she says about her venture into choreographing. “I surprised myself that I created something amazing. I thought I would need help, but then I just started stomping, trying to make sounds with a beat and ended up putting together something really cool.”
The Lower School team performs throughout the year, including at MLK Day and during Black History Month. It has also performed at Beatstock, an annual spring event, and, last year, the Lil’ Steppers were invited to perform as part of Jason Delva’s ’24 senior project about step. “These have all been really wonderful opportunities for the kids,” Brown says.
“When I got the call to have the Lil’ Steppers perform at the Winter Assembly, I immediately thought of Sidney and her enthusiasm and talent as a Lil’ Stepper,” Brown says. “Sidney was excited back then about stepping and was creating step routines of her own.”
Thirty-four students volunteered to participate in the December production, which was open to all Milton students in grades three through five. Because of the number of dancers, the group was split in two, with one group performing at the Winter Assembly and the other at the MLK Assembly in January. Starting in early October, students rehearsed the routine weekly. A recording of the dance was sent to the students and their families so that they could practice at home.
A few former Lil’ Steppers, in addition to Lamousnery, also helped out. “The amount of time, effort, and energy that a few of the students put in—including Sidney, C.J. Cafferty ’31, and Annie Prudent ’31—was remarkable,” Brown says. “They would come over during morning recess or lunch and teach the kids how to step, giving them feedback about the rhythm of the step and their arm positioning, making sure we were stepping as one voice and in sync.”