In part two of Feo's no holds barred interview he discusses his dance chemistry with Candace, the fire that's burning inside of him, and why he doesn't teach a Steppers class in Flint, MI. Check him out (Cont.)
TP: Okay. Let's go back to Candace. Why do the two of you have such good chemistry on the floor, you think?
Feo: I don't know because we fight all the time. We beefing right now. (Laughter) I don't really know. I guess it's because I got to know her and we basically learned to dance together. She was going to her father and I was going someplace else. Where I was going, the guy, you know how you say you want to take stuff from people and make it [your own]. The guy that was teaching me, name was Percy Dunn, he didn't have no combinations. He was real smooth but I think he had two turns for you. That was it. He was real smooth and he was nice with his feet. At the time, I wanted to be like he was and I wanted to dance like her father [because he] knew a lot of combinations.
TP: Candace's father?
Feo: Yes. He knew a lot of combinations but he looked more L.C.ish … more robotic doing it. I wanted to take the smoothness of the guy that was teaching me and combine it with some of the combinations that he did. I ended up going to her father's class, and she was young, like 20 maybe 21. We got to dancing and just ended up growing into the dance and doing it all the time together. Because there ain't nobody here doing it. It's me and her and a few other people. Now it's just me and her. The crazy thing about all of that is I didn't never dance with her when I first met her. I never would dance with her. She came up to me one day and was like, “Why you never dance with me?” I've been dancing with her ever since she asked me that.
TP: Good. Back to the contest a little bit. Drew made a big splash last year, in the year that you decided to sit out. Is there a small fire burning somewhere inside of you to come back and show the people that you still are one of the best in the nation?
Feo: Yes. Of course. It was there last year and everybody was talking about it. I know you mad you didn't get the contest now. Drew, he came in and I've already got a fire at him and Keesha already because let me see … They done already been in the World's Largest, what three times and won twice. Or placed twice. I done been in it six times and placed once. I'm a competitive person by nature, period. When it wasn't basketball or football it could be debating, conversation, anything. It's not a small [fire] burning though. The sun is [burning] inside. I'm just getting everything together. What I feel I need to work on and improve on and come out and try to give to him some competition this year.
TP: In the MSBU contest you said it was important for you to dance without all of the tricks to see where you really stood. Did you prove something to yourself by placing second without all of the antics?
Feo: Yes. I proved that we're getting better just on the dancing side. Candace, she be more so wanting to do the tricks than I do. I want to get in there and I want to … like I said, I used to look at the dance one sided and I was like, “Man it's going to be the big trick that's going to win the contest.” That first one dropping Candace by her neck and wasn't nobody doing it and we was winning. Then I started [dropping] Candace with my foot and we losing. Then I was dropping her and doing everything else and we still losing. So there's got to be some dance. I see Charnice and Tykman and Rick and countless others at the club or at the parties and they be clowning. It will be a group of 50 people standing around them and they ain't doing one trick but they dancing. It's so cold, it's so cold. So crazy looking. It gives me chill bumps. I've got to get there. When I can come to the contest and I am bringing whatever kind of trick that we want to come up with or we kind of get an idea of a turn, and I'm bringing that kind of dance power. It's going to be hard. It's going to be real, real hard to [beat us] when I can put that 50-50 or 60-40.
TP: Okay. I'm about to wrap up, but it's hard to believe now that a number of us once thought you and Candace was standoffish. Now I think Candace is sweet as pie. You might not be friends with everybody but a lot of people really like you now, as well. Did you all soften up a little bit and let your guard down or do you feel that everyone else just opened up and got to know who you two really were?
Feo: I think it was a little of both. You know, we were young kids, [Candace was] 21 and I was 24,25, coming to a dance with grown-ups. Grown people. Then, around here where we at, you don't want to be a soft person and you don't want to let everybody into your business. I was bringing that myself. I can't account for Candace. I was bringing the part of the neighborhood with me along with my own attitude and my own drive to be the best out-of-towner, period. It wouldn't even be a thought when they said who's the best out-of-towner, it's got to be Feo. I'm bringing that. My only way of looking at it at that time was that I've got to be like “ain't nobody better than me.” I was still coming up, even now till this day if I don't know you I don't just run up to you and be like “Hey how you doing.” If you female I might run up on you and say “Hey how you doing, you want to dance.” On a guy I ain't running up on you like that. If I get to know you and I see you out, we bump and pass, we cross paths I'm courteous to everybody but I'm just not … I'm an introvert. I try to stay to myself, even though from doing a contest and different things like that we have a Youtube name, I like to be in the back. I don't like to be out front.
So you know, when you go to the party you see Drew dancing with Tykman, and then you'll see everybody out there. There will be Taboo and like 20 guys out there and you never see me out there. I just like to be seen but not seen. I only want you to see me when it's time to compete. Other than that I'm just like everybody else. I hate the fact that people be like “I am so intimidated to dance with you” and I don't know why, I suck, I am still working on this. I've got a private right now that I've got to go take. I was at The Blackout taking a private during the party. And I am paying. They are doing brunch and it's a video on Facebook that I put up of Tykman dancing with Candace, Keesha and Jenny. I was taking a private in the middle of the party.
TP: Right.
Feo: I'm hungry like everybody else. I just want people to look at it that way. I think after seeing us coming out it was more of an acceptance, and then, at the same time, we dropped some of our guard. I know I dropped some of my guard and was more, I guess approachable for lack of a better word. Now people can see me and be like that's Feo, he cool. Somebody else will be like he cool, he just look like that. He cool. I still get you don't never smile. They will still say you don't never smile. Charnice be on me about that all the time … smile. Smile. I'm not a smiler. I [have to] work on that. I be working on my contest grin. (Laughing)
TP: Right.
Feo: I think just with the years we been participating … going around, you know, we used to be at everything everywhere in a vehicle. Coming off the road, 12 hours to come to the party at one o'clock. We just got here.
TP: Right. So tell me this, where are you teaching these days or are you teaching? If people are interested in learning from you how would they connect with you?
Feo: I'm not teaching. Like I said, we live in Flint and Candace's father has a class but it's not … he has to be doing it because he just loves to teach. There's five or maybe 10 people that come to the class. To me, it wasn't worth me to go find a place to teach and pay them and I would be paying them what the people was giving me, that's two hours. When I was teaching there wasn't nobody showing up. I could have been at the house with my son. I have to take my son here and drop him off and sit up here and there would be like two people that came to the class. After a couple of years of that I stopped teaching.
Then here, where you go to other places the better you are, the more people want from you or want to learn from you, here they shy away from you. So the better you are they can't do the all the stuff you can do. I can't do them turns. I can't move that fast. I ain't that smooth. Whatever it may be. They like to watch you dance but they ain't trying to come learn nothing from you. So I don't teach nowhere. Candace, she helps her father out and I think she do once a month, she has a workshop for something out here. I just go to work and come to the crib. It's too much drama and killing going on. When I get off work I'm at the house. If somebody wants me to teach them I've got my number on Facebook; you can get my number from practically anybody and I will come to you. But as far as a class, I don't got no class.
TP: You keep saying here. You are in Flint?
Feo: Yes. I'm in Flint Michigan. Born and raised in still living in this crazy place.
TP: I know about Flint. I used to go to visit every summer. [Some of] my family is in Flint, my cousin got killed there are couple of years ago, so I know when you say Flint is a little rough I can kind of attest to that. I think it got rougher when the auto industry shut down.
Feo: Yes. The last past year. The last past couple of years I mean it's getting bad everywhere. It might be 100,000 people here, give or take. Maybe.
TP: It's that small?
Feo: It's small. You can't go to the store. I think the first eight or 10 murders here was women. Then they just went through and got to popping … I mean last weekend almost 5 people got killed in two days. For it to be that small it's way too much. You can't really go nowhere and do nothing. Like I said, I'm only 33 so I'm still growing into my adultness. So my attitude is still from growing up around all of this. So you know I don't need hanging out here with these idiots. Plus my son just turned 12, and before he moved to Arizona, I don't want to be getting into I cut you off and then you show up at the gas station and you've got an issue and I've got my son with me.
TP: Right.
Feo: He would be on my hip, like my wallet. So I just go to work. I might as well be 60,62. My daddy don't do nothing. My daddy get off work and he in the house. He call me to go to the store for him.
TP: Right. Feo, I told you we were going to have a real interview but I think this might be about the realist when I've done.
Feo: I told you. They don't always want to put down what I say.
TP: I'm going to put it down. I don't know how they going to respond to either one of us afterwards, but you know, this is what we do. This is a home for REAL Steppers.
Feo: I love all y'all. I don't got no issues with nobody. If you ask me and you don't want to know don't ask me. Ain't that what they say? My daddy always told me if you don't want to know the truth don't ask me.
TP: Right.
Feo: I can only tell you from my honest opinion. You said it's a REAL interview, for REAL Steppers, REAL people read this so, you know, I'll tell you. They going to be mad, especially about that contest stuff I said.
TP: Oh man. I think I'm going to have to do this in two parts. Okay. Did I miss anything? Anything you want to bring up that I might have failed to ask before we go? Any closing thoughts?
Feo: No. I want everybody, just like [you all were] talking about on the Shorty Smooth Show, make sure y'all are listening to that on Thursday, shameful plug. Like you and Max were talking about the dance is the dance. So don't bring all the extra into the dance. The dance should be enjoyable, we should actually learn, us guys should learn how to dance and not just be trying to run off into everything. I love and appreciate everybody for all the support, all the help. Me and Candace both. I want y'all to be making sure you come to the contests. I'm going to try to make it one of the best, most eventful contests that they done had. I really don't got nothing else. God bless y'all. Love y'all. Goodnight.
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