Owner/Artistic Director
Maxine Lyle began stepping at the age of seven in her hometown of Newark, NJ. She now performs, choreographs, and offers step instruction to youth and adults throughout the Northeast. She has extensively researched the local and international history of stepping. In 1996 she co-founded Sankofa, the Williams College step team, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006 and is now under the official auspices of the Williams College Dance Program. She has been a creative advisor to college and youth step teams and taught at arts institutions, including the Youth Alive Step Team (Pittsfield, MA), the Manhattan College Step Team, the Westfield State University Step Team, the Vermont Arts Exchange, Berkshire Pulse, Eden Hill, and Simon's Rock. Her choreography has been featured at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA). She is a Master of Fine Arts candidate in Theatrical Management and Producing at Columbia University's School of the Arts.

Zakia "Mindz-I" Benyard is a native of Newark, New Jersey. She is a graduate of Kean University. Her passion for dancing evolved at a young age. Her background includes step, African, tap, jazz and hip-hop. In addition to her work with the Soul Steppers, Benyard choreographs and performs with Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship Inc. and has been an artistic consultant for college step teams in the Newark community.

Denyse "Trini Spice" Deane is from Trinidad & Tobago. She graduated in 2003 from Williams College, where she participated in African dance, drumming and stepping. Prior to that, her arts background included ballet and theatre. Denyse currently works in Marketing and Communications in NYC, with the goal of using those skills to further the performing arts in her native country.

Heather "Eko" DeLeon, hails from Brooklyn, NY. She is a 2005 graduate of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, where in 2001 she was co-founder and head choreographer of Hatari, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts step team. As a young girl her father introduced her to the art of stepping and she has continued to expose herself to stepping ever since.

Sean Anthony "Soul Train" Thomas is a native of Harlem, NY. He graduated from Brown University in 2003, where he was the co-director of Fusion Dance Company, a multi-cultural student run group started in 1983, which focused on a variety of different dance styles. Currently, he is a member of Jamal Jackson Dance Company based in NYC (African, modern, hip hop) and God's Hands, which is a church run company that performs gospel songs in sign language. Thomas works at the Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center as an HIV Outreach Coordinator and teaches dance classes at the New York Sports Club.