Eastern Michigan University held another step show, but this time it was a bit different. The Train like an Alpha premiere show was Wednesday Jan. 24, in the student center auditorium, where the women of Eastern Michigan University got to train how to step like the members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated.
The doors opened at 8:30 p.m. and right away there was a full house filled with eager students to watch the show. Entertainment was done by the well-known, Dj Campus Legend. The crowd was very active before the start of the event as they sang along to songs and danced in their seats or in the aisles.
At the start of the show there was an introduction of the judges, who would calculate which group of ladies did the best job of performing the different steps they’ve been training to perform. An audience member picked from a hat which group could get to start first.
Three different groups of ladies were coached by different members of the Alphas to learn different routines. The first grouped named “PrecIce”, (to sound like precise but replaced with the word “ice”) coached by Quentin Francis. The second group “Cold as Ice” coached by Justin Schaeffer, and third group, “Black as Ice”, coached by Quentin Washington and Tremaine Lasenby.
Each performance had a certain time to perform and each group gave two performances to be judged on. There was a brief intermission where a couple contests were held.
The first was to have a few ladies from the audience to see who can hold the Alpha Phi Alpha’s signature pose the longest. The other contest to see who can learn a few steps the fastest and perform them within five seconds. For these contests it was based on the audience choice by who can cheer the loudest. Throughout the show the students were constantly cheering.
Once the event was over, the judges tallied their votes and picked a winner. “Black as Ice” coached by Quentin Washington and Tremaine Lasenby, took first place, “PrecIce” coached by Quentin Francis received second place, and “Cold as Ice” coached by Justin Schaeffer, got third.
Even though not every team could win first place, it was easy to see that everyone had a good time and felt very proud to have been a part of the event.