Story by Nicole Cooke, Copy Editor—
Greek Week’s most popular event was back and ready to wow a whole new audience Tuesday night.
The lower level of Hendricks Hall was completely full for the step show competition. It was full of members of the Fraternity and Sorority Life community proudly wearing brightly colored shirts plastered with the name of their Greek god or goddess. Their hands were full of large posters, noisemakers and glow sticks, with the hope of winning that night’s spirit award.
What many people may not know is that this event was months in the making. Most teams, made up of one sorority and one or two fraternities, started practicing their routines in late January or early February.
Kelsey Roth, a member of Sigma Kappa Sorority, said that they, along with their partner, Delta Chi Fraternity, practiced twice a week starting in February. As the event came closer, the group practiced Sunday through Thursday.
Routines were based on YouTube videos or members’ previous dance experience. The routines also included something to incorporate this year’s theme, “Greeks on the Red Carpet.”
There was everything from Theta Chi Fraternity and Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority’s “Rock of Ages” routine, to a zombie routine by Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority and Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, and even a “throw-down” routine by Delta Zeta Sorority, Sigma Pi Fraternity and National Pan-Hellenic Council.
Most step routines included intricate moves, as is expected with traditional step shows.
“At first everyone thought the steps were difficult but after the third practice we all started getting the hang of the steps, and learning new steps came easy to us,” Roth said.
Sigma Kappa and Delta Chi weren’t the only ones who had a rocky start.
“The steps were a bit difficult to learn at first,” said Jon Kamp, a member of Theta Chi. “Our main obstacle was timing on some of the steps. We had to alter a few to make it fit the flow of the routine.”
Kamp said a typical practice for his group included reviewing what they had learned during the previous practice and then going on to learn new steps. At the end of practice, the group would go over the whole section they just learned, focusing on portions they were struggling with.
Part of preparing for the step show included creating costumes. For Roth, she dressed up as the Cowardly Lion for their “The Wizard of Oz” theme. Kamp and the rest of his group dressed up as members of a hard rock band, complete with an unusual accessory.
“Right after we got back from a run through at Hendricks, one of the choreographers looked at the guys and said ‘I think you guys should wear eyeliner,’” he said. “It ended up being a 50-50 split of guys wearing eyeliner or sunglasses.”
Kamp opted for the sunglasses option.
Everyone in the audience seemed to enjoy the show, which was made obvious by the cheers and applause whenever a unique move was performed or a popular song was played. Before and after the show, Hendricks was full of the traditional Greek Week chants, which the Greek Week Executive Council judges to determine each day’s spirit award winners. It was impossible to hear what any one group was yelling because it all morphed into one loud sound, but the enthusiasm everyone had for Greek Week was very apparent.
The step show is such a popular event, FSL alumni were even in the audience, including Alpha Phi Sorority alumna Beth Little.
Little, who is now a graduate assistant at Kansas State University, made the trip to Warrensburg just to see the step show.
“My second little, Sydney (Whobrey), is Alpha Phi’s Greek goddess for this year and I wanted to be able to come to town and support her at an event,” Little said. “It just so happened that Tuesday was the only night that worked for me and it was also my favorite event.”
Little said that it was a long drive, but being able to surprise her chapter was worth it. She also said it was worth it to see one of the biggest events of the week.
“Step is something that really gets spirits up and keeps the crowd enthusiastic,” she said. “It also allows for a lot of collaboration between groups and a time to bring in outside cooperation from those more experienced in step.”
Kamp agreed it seemed evident that everyone put in even more effort into their step performances than usual.
“I think we as a group did phenomenal, along with everyone else,” he said. “It seemed like everyone put a lot of hard work into this step this year.”
Little said she enjoyed the whole show, although she did have her favorites.
“I think the organizations did great. Everyone was creative and tied in their theme well,” Little said. “I really enjoyed Alpha Phi, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Phi Sigma Kappa because of their tie in to ‘Major Payne.’ I also loved Alpha Omicron Pi, Tau Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Tau Omega because I dig creepy movies.”
The winners of the step show will be announced during closing ceremonies Monday at 5:30 p.m. in the Union Ballroom.
For more info on Greek Week, contact Jessie Stinson, assistant director of housing and fraternity and sorority life, at [email protected], or go to fb.com/UCMGreekLife.