'Step Show' entertains sold-out Forum Hall

   
Cheers and applause followed each act as dance teams from five of K-State's traditionally black greek organizations took the stage Friday night before a sold-out crowd in Forum Hall.

    
"The Yard Show" was presented by Union Program Council. Groups were composed of six to nine members and performed coordinated and rhythmic dances.

    
"I think the energy was good; I think the routines were unique," said Brandon Black, sophomore in business. "Each performance was different but entertaining as well."

    
The evening began as the show's two emcees, with aliases of Foxy Cleopatra and Sexual Chocolate, performed a roll call.

    
The roll call is a tradition in which the emcees shout the names of each of the "Divine Nine" and its members perform their fraternity's or sorority's individual group chant. There are nine historically black fraternities and sororities that make up the "Divine Nine."

    
At K-State there are seven of the Divine Nine organizations represented in "the yard." A yard is made up of the active Divine greek organizations on a campus.

    
Noah Strozier, a recent graduate of K-State, said the roll call might have caught a few audience members off guard.

    
"If you're not used to the greek thing, then it's a little weird," Strozier said. "But it's all tradition. Nobody's calling out anyone else, they're just representing their thing."

    
The first greek organization to perform was "the bodacious brothers" of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. They took the stage in khaki pants and pastel polo shirts while performing a dance routine that featured extremely fast rhythms, but no music. They also included humor in their act, showing a video about how one of their members is always on the phone.

    
The third group to perform was the first sorority of the evening, Delta Sigma Theta. The women entered from off-stage while dancing. Their performance was an ode to old school R&B music. They stepped to tunes ranging from artists like the Supremes to Tina Turner. They ended with up-to-date hip-hop music.

    
After them, the women of Zeta Phi Beta sorority took the stage by dancing up the aisles of Forum Hall. They wore blue robes and performed a skit of a boxing match, complete with a participant carrying the "Round" signs just like in traditional Las Vegas-style boxing matches.

    
The eventual winners of the competition, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., took the stage as the fifth performance. The men began by showing a video of a "Blair Witch Project" spoof, in which the man holding the camera went searching through the night for "steppers." Once the video ended, the dancers performed, completing the process of going from "unfound talent to trainee," to performer.

    
Jeremy James, Alpha Phi Alpha dancemaster, said the group has been preparing for two months to get the routine down, sometimes as often as twice a day.

    
"We practiced five times a week and when we got closer to the event we started to perform every night," James said. "We step with passion."

  
All participants were ranked by a panel of four judges, which included Anya Martin, wife of men's basketball coach Frank Martin.

    
"I thought it was a very uplifting night," Strozier said of the event.

    
All proceeds from the event went to scholarships provided by the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the governing body of historically black greek organizations.

    
Greek organizations that participated in "The Yard Show" included Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, which placed third; Delta Sigma Theta sorority, which placed second; Zeta Phi Beta sorority, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. The Poise Hip-Hop Dance Team also performed.