The National Pan-Hellenic Council of Eastern Michigan University hosted its annual Step Show in Pease Hall Auditorium on Thursday.
“The step show is an annual highly anticipated event,” said Ivory Harris, co-host of the show. “It gives students a chance to appreciate the arts, and it gives organizations a chance to showcase their creativity as well.”
The Zeta Phi Beta Sorority opened the show with a well-received performance, but in the end the brothers of Phi Beta Sigma took the first-place prize for fraternities for the second year in a row. The sisters of Zeta Phi Beta took the first-place prize in the sorority division, being the only sorority participating.
“I feel that the Sigmas and Zetas did their thing,” said Kris Bolds, vice president for internal affairs for the NPHC and president of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity on campus.
A few of EMU’s resident dance teams got stage time with a variety of dances including a military themed performance from S.I.D and a lyrical/hip-hop mix routine from the Diversion Dance Troupe. The competition also featured a performance from the Alpha Phi Alphas of the University of Michigan. Its disrespect of EMU fraternities was ill received but didn’t affect the crowd’s approval much.
Pease Hall Auditorium was packed with past, present and future students as several alumnae came to show their support, wearing Greek paraphernalia. Audience interaction made up a huge part of the show.
“I made a comment about fraternities and sororities unifying with past chapter members to celebrate and support this initiative,” Harris said. “It was great to see the alumnus’s having fun in the same environment with new and current NPHC members.
“The Zetas, as well as other sororities, worked hard to promote the event, but I feel that EMU not only needs to help all student organizations learn skills to effectively manage their staff and events, but the school also needs to provide proper training on how to work efficiently with Campus Life and Student Government.”
Harris, along with co-host Jason Ford, provided comedic entertainment as well as two sets of tickets to the Lupe Fiasco concert set for Nov. 5 in EMU’s Convocation Center as prizes to audience members. They were asked to dance selected moves and recite the eight active fraternity and sorority chapters of the NPHC in order of development.
“The overall show and setup was good,” Bolds said. “I feel as though everything went as planned apart from the few technical difficulties. It was obvious that the orgs that participated put in a lot of hard work, and I was surprised that the Alphas did so well, being they had a one-day notice.”