Have you ever dared yourself to try something out of your elements? Fear Experiment encourages people to do just that, regardless of their limitations or abilities.
First time steppers are preparing for their upcoming show. They have been training twice a week for three months.
Fear Experiment is the three-year-old brainchild of Saya Hillman.
"The criteria for participating in Fear Experiment is that you have to be bad at whatever the art form is and the art forms are dance, improv, stepping and a capella," said Hillman. "You have to sign up yourself; you can't sign up with a friend or a boyfriend because I'm a big believer of pushing yourself and scaring yourself."
One of the stepper is Rachel Arfa. Despite the fact that she is deaf, she wanted to challenge herself.
"I was a bit nervous about doing this because I'm the first person to do this, and I can't hear the music. I'm not a dancer. I don't have any training, but I realized when I went to an information meeting about this, nobody had any experience," said Arfa.
Stepping is an African-American percussive dance that is fast paced and a lot of sound-based movements.
"Look for visual clues and watch what other people are doing," said Arfa. "More I do it, the more I memorize the routine."
Dance instructor Queen Meccasia Zabriskie said she was worried about having a student who is deaf.
"I was not sure exactly if I would be able to do it. I knew she was dedicated. I knew she was courageous. I knew she wanted to learn, but I was nervous about how I would transmit this information to her," Zabriskie said. "It's a process. We're still working on it, but I'm completely inspired by her."
The Fear Experiment steppers will be performing Saturday at Park West in Lincoln Park at 8 p.m. The next Fear Experiment starts in January. For more information and cost http://macncheeseproductions.com/fear-experiment
