We love the down-the-way dance

GINA DAUGHERTY | CIN WEEKLY

Terry Price, right, and Robert Eubanks, both of Over-the-Rhine, perform the down-the-way dance in front of Wanda's Grocery in Over-the-Rhine. (Photo by Leigh Patton/CiN Weekly)

If Wanda Jones, owner of Wanda's Groceries in Over-the-Rhine, were to tell you, "I'm goin' down the way to pay my phone bill," what she'd be saying to you is that she is going downtown to Cincinnati Bell.

"Downtown is down the way," Jones explains. "African-Americans in the city say 'down the way' for downtown. 'I'm gonna holla at my boy, down the way.'"

It's also spurred a dance for Cincinnati and a No. 1 song on WIZF-FM (100.9) "The Wiz" for local rapper Tocka.

The down-the-way dance is hard to describe. But Robert Eubanks, aka Lil Flip, is widely regarded as the best down-the-way dancer there is. And he's none too shy about his talents, either.

"I took it over and added my moves, and now I got everybody in the city doing it," he says. "I was the best at it the same day I learned it."

Terry Price, aka 20, is also a seasoned down-the-way dancer, and on a recent sultry afternoon at Wanda's Groceries, the two stepped it to "Tipsy" by J-Kwon.

They would have preferred Tocka's song, "Down tha Way," but the CD player was broken, so they tuned into the Wiz for whatever they could get.

Eubanks starts it, moving just his feet and improvising with his hands - "mixing up that '80s way," he says. He pops, locks and then gives the move to Price, who does his own version of the down-the-way, at one point acting like he is passing out, at which time Eubanks catches him and takes the dance back.

Eubanks has recently come back from touring with Tocka, where he's danced the down-the-way from Atlanta to California.

"It's all about the beat," he says. And Tocka's song is perfect to dance the down-the-way to.

Gerald Tucker, vice president of entertainment for Garnett Entertainment, Tocka's label, says there is going to be a video shot for the song. Already the company has handed out copies of the song on ice cream trucks and has given away T-shirts at the Boys & Girls Club.

"Everybody is lovin' it," Tucker says. "When we were recording it we said, 'They're gonna love it. The whole city is gonna love it.'"

Click here for more on Tocka and to hear his song "Down tha Way."

Down The Way Talent Show

It's been standing room only at OTR Productions' Down The Way talent shows.

Kid rappers, dancers and singers all put their outfits on and show the community their special talent, because everybody's got one, says Wanda Jones.

Jones, owner of Wanda's Groceries in Over-the-Rhine, started the talent show a year ago. And now it has outgrown its current space in the Lincoln Center.

"I wanted to change the channel, make some positive things happen," Jones says. "Kids having babies and boys being bad ... People come together from all over the communities to see some positive things happen."

At the talent shows, which happen about once a month, the kids get the chance to perform for the community. And people from every community come to see their favorites.

Kids around her store wear their OTR Productions T-shirts with "Down The Way" written in bold letters on the back. And pictures of kids who have danced, sung and rapped in her talent shows line the glass entryway to her store.

The Down The Way talent show will move to a larger space at the Over-the-Rhine Community Center for the first time July 3, where there will be more room for talent and spectators.