If there’s a prominent cultural venue or event in Palm Beach County, chances are the Platinum Steppers have shaken its floorboards or pounded its pavement.
From the Kravis Center to Mizner Park Amphitheater and the South Florida Fair to Delray Beach’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the city’s periodic Art & Jazz events, the student dancers from our local Achievement Centers for Children & Families (ACCF) get around, spreading joy and building community one step at a time. They’ve also performed for residents of assisted-living homes and at multiple Heart of Palm Beach fundraisers for United Way of Palm Beach County.
It can seem like the Platinum Steppers are everywhere. While they might perform three to four shows a month on average, at the time of this interview teams of students as young as 6 and as old as 18 had performed three times in the past seven days to satisfy an increasing demand—which extends to the corps of dancers. “We had six [dancers] the first year, and now we have 76 across four teams,” says Lashunta Mitchell, head step coach at ACCF.
She attributes this growth, achieved over just five years, to the level of student involvement in the creative process. “I think a lot of it is letting them decide the steps and the dances—being involved and letting the kids bring their friends in, and then the sisterhood and the community that it gives them. We had six girls join last week.”
The choreographic process is not unlike that of jazz artists conceiving of a piece by playing off each other’s ideas. “I might start a step, and I might give it to Jaidyn [Thomas, 10],” Mitchell says. “And by the time I see the dance, it’s totally different. We come up with it together.”
Centers for Children & Families Platinum Steppers, photo by Carina Mask
The Platinum Steppers’ rise is all the more notable given that its infrastructure did not exist before 2021. ACCF, a nonprofit that has provided childcare, out-of-school programs, and education in southern Palm Beach County since 1969, did have a step team in the past; in fact, Mitchell recalls seeing her first step show some 15 years ago at ACCF, and the experience set her on a path to become a dance coach. “But when I got here, there was nothing established. We restructured it, reintroduced it, and came up with the Platinum Steppers. So to have a step team here is actually humbling. It’s [come] full circle.”
As for the name? “The girls are platinum, which is the highest metal, I feel like, and they’re steppers, so I just kind of put it together.”
Step dance, a percussive form of footwork-intensive movement of which tap dancing is an outgrowth, has origins in Africa and the pre-Civil War American South, where it emerged as a vital language of rebellion for enslaved peoples. It remains one of the most popular African American dance styles, practiced from elementary schools to churches to universities. For the majority-Black, working-class beneficiaries of ACCF, stepping connects them to their heritage while offering them a safe space to express themselves outside the classroom.
“As we know, as kids get older, there’s a risk of them getting into things that may not best serve them,” says Jalesa Huggins, chief operating officer at ACCF. “So by the students being at practice, or being involved in the step team, coming to the different events [in] different places around the county, exposing them to different environments, the parents are really appreciative of that, because they know their kids are safe. They know they’re going to be fed, and they’re not going to be in instances where they can get in trouble, and they’re being well taken care of.”
Centers for Children & Families Platinum Steppers, photo by Carina Mask
Mitchell cites “self-expression, self-esteem, confidence, sisterhood, and community” as benefits of joining the Platinum Steppers—“all those things that help them become good citizens and adults.” The three students we spoke with for this article—Arianna Conde, Jaidyn Thomas, and Elyanna Ellis—all noted the friendships they’ve formed with their fellow steppers.
“If one of them has a birthday party, the whole team is invited,” Mitchell says. “So they’re getting hot dogs for 76 kids. And I’m, like, come on, you really [need] all of us? So it’s a big family. When something happens, we’re all there for it.”
This story is from the Summer 2026 issue of Delray magazine. For more like this, click here to subscribe to the magazine.
