Dave's Bio
"Without a vision, the people perish." A popular passage from the Bible which has a strong message. Such a vision came to David B. Joyce, who is the founder of DBJ Productions. Starting out as a DJ at 16, I always was a lover of music and dance. Doing rec parties at high school and "blue light" basement parties on the weekends, it was my hobby. Growing older, I started spinning music in venues around the city of Rockford and became prestigious as a nightclub DJ. Taking on the name 'DJ Ebony D', provided the best music was my intention. As time went on, times were changing. There started to be a separation of the younger crowd and the older crowd. With the older crowd, the mature atmosphere intrigued me and I even changed my music style to attract that audience. But the vision to do more was pulling at me. eventually, I carried out that vision in December 2003, when I decided that Rockford, IL needed an art form of dance called Chicago Original Style Stepping. The local venues didn't have this style of stepping, for most dancers in the city were either freestylers or boppers. So I decided to try my hand at bringing true stepping here. I learned Chicago Original Style from the best in the business at the time, Mr. Pete Frazier of the Majestic Gents in Chicago, Il., which at that time I learned the '6-count' style of stepping. After perfecting the count in just 4 months, I starting to compete as a stepper in various dance contests in St. Louis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Ind. as well as Rockford, with 2nd place finishes in Rockford & St. Louis and 3rd in Milwaukee. After that time, I felt the need to bring the dance to my city. so in January 2004, I presented my first stepper set at the Texas Lounge. It nearly sold out, drawing about 150 people. Then I did another the next month at the same location and that set DID sell out! After that stepping started to buzz in town. Going through that year constantly doing monthly sets, people started to get interested in taking classes for stepping. So I started the first ever steppers class in Rockford at the Brickhouse Lounge In October 2004. We started with 6 people and we were teaching 6-count. After that time we moved the class to the American Legion and the class grew slightly. Then after 4 months at that location, we outgrew the venue and moved to Booker Washington Center, where Original Style really took off.
We changed our teaching to 8-count and the class grew to about 25 students. Within a year we had more than 100 people come through the class. In May of 2005, we organized Rockford's first ever steppers group, "Rockford Steppers Inc.". It started with 5 members and eventually grew to about 20.
In June 2006, some members of Rockford Steppers Inc. branched off and started Rockford's 2nd steppers group, The Rock City Unique Steppers. I eventually called the remaining members of our group DBJ Productions Steppers Family and from that point we started classes in Freeport, Il., The Quad Cities (Iowa), Beloit, Wis., and Sterling, Il., as well as continuing our Rockford class. In 2007, I took up teaching another form of dance called 'Line Dancing.' In the dance world, the ratio is 8 women to one man. So line dance provides women with the opportunity to still dance without the collaboration of a partner. I started teaching line dance locally in Rockford, and when they became more diverse, I began to have workshops. Now we teach nationally at workshops, Balls & conventions. I won my 1st ever line dance competition in Milwaukee in 2008 doing the 'Super Bad' line dance. We have trained more than 2,500 students to date in both steppin' & line dance. Our primary objective in to promote the love of the Art of stepping throughout our region through instruction and fellowship. In closing, as I continue the art of steppin' in Dallas, TX., I thank my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ that He allowed me to pioneer this atmosphere in my home of Rockford and that he would continue to bless the growth of Stepping all around the country and beyond.

David's Accolades
2nd Place Aug. 2009 Steppin' In The Bayou Steppers Contest - Baton Rouge, LA
2008 Line Dance Champion - Individual - 'Super Bad' - - Milwaukee
2007 Award Winning Promoter/DJ Chicago Stepping, Inside Steppin' Magazine Awards
2nd Place 2006 Paragon Steppers Contest
2nd Place 2006 Bourbon St. Steppers Contest
2nd Place 2004
Brickhouse Steppers Contest
2nd Place 2004 St. Louis Steppers/Boppers Battle Royale


FEATURED IN ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR!
http://www.rrstar.com/news/gtkm/x1846589786
DBJ Productions Founder & CEO David J. was featured in Rockford's newspaper. Check out the link.