The 10th annual step show, "Supernova Step Explosion," started off with a bang on Friday night. After an opening act from Annie Raczko, junior elementary education/English major, that included laughs and a taste of stepping that was to come, the audience was given a brief history of stepping from MCs Ike Anyanwu and Laudaine Simeon.
"Stepping has moved to a new height," Anyanwu said. "These sorority and fraternity teams are expressing themselves through the art of stepping."
The step show included four different segments following the opening. It included an exhibition portion, the female competition, a performance portion and the male competition. In each segment, dancers from different sororities and fraternities or student organizations performed different high-energy, step numbers that encompassed a variety of dance styles and even acrobatic tricks.
"The show is getting more diverse," Simeon said. "The teams are really stepping it up with their precision and are adding interesting touches like acrobatics. They are coming out with all they have."
In the exhibition portion, sorority sisters from Lambda Theta Alpha, Mu Sigma Upsilon and Theta Nu Xi incorporated their sorority's legacy, rap and hip-hop songs into the number. While two to four people performed in the exhibition, it was very different for the performance portion. Members of the Dance Team and the United Flow Hip-Hop Dance Team performed for the audience and were an exciting addition to the show.
The portions that got the crowd most excited, however, were the male and female competitions. Two sororities and three fraternities stepped to their own mixes in complementary costumes in front of a panel of seven judges.
The judges included Michael Austin from Alpha Phi Alpha, Diane Erd from Mu Sigma Upsilon, Manny Santana from Lambda Sigma Upsilon, Aharon Brooks Allen from Sigma Gamma Rho, Seye Charles from Phi Beta Sigma, Alejandra Mondragon from Lambda Tau Omega and Lynette Harris from Zeta Phi Beta.
"In the competition, the judges were looking for originality, showmanship, ap-pearance, precision and overall performance," Mondragon, an alumnus from Rider University, said.
Zeta Phi Beta and Chi Upsilon Sigma performed in the female competition. In the end, Zeta's baseball theme, complete with a bat girl, won out against Chi's dance audition theme. Kappa Alpha Psi beat out competitors Lambda Sigma Upsilon and Alpha Phi Alpha, who received second and third, respectively.
"I really like how creative they got with the props," Rachel Pender, freshman early childhood education/psychology major, said. "They were all great performers."
At the end of the night, it was clear that all the performers worked very hard to put on a great show and that the audience really appreciated and enjoyed their efforts. Many attendees agreed it was worth the $8 or $10 at-the-door ticket price for such a fun event that would benefit the Greek organizations.
"The crowd was really into the show and all the fraternities and sororities seemed to take great pride in the event," Jim Gallagher, freshman finance major, said.
However, the dancers weren't the only ones who worked hard. The StepShow Committee and Nicole Bramletta, vice president of Multicultural Affairs, with help from the rest of the Inter-Greek Council executive board, put the show on without a hitch.
