Dance Steps is the bitter-sweet story of a Southern boomer coming of age and how art, music, a dance, and a girl were huge parts of his journey to manhood. Donald Emmerson was just an average Southern kid growing up in the '60s. He was smart, but not real smart. Donald, known as Donno to a few people, wasn't a bad looking boy, but his looks weren't anything special either. Although tall and slender with a runner's build, he didn't play any sports, not even little league baseball. Donno was just an average kid with only three things going for him — he could dance a little, was a pretty good artist, and had a pest neighbor girl who pushed him to be more than the low expectations his father had for him.