Greeks step for fall block, fill up Siegel Center

The line of students reached from the doors of the Stuart C. Siegel Center all the way around to the parking lot alongside the building for the 24th annual Fall Block Step Show with the theme “Lights, Camera, Action: We’re Going to Hollywood.” The sold out event surpassed last year’s 4,000 students.

Performers included Kappa Alpha Psi, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Iota Phi Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho, Alpha Phi Alpha, Zata Phi Beta, Omega Psi Phi and Delta Sigma Theta.

Each organization had a theme to their performance and included elements such as skits, videos and singing, in addition to their step performances. Themes included Blu’s Anatomy, a parody on the ABC series Grey’s Anatomy and The Wizz, a take on The Wizard of Oz. Often, the words shouted by step leaders could barely be heard over the roaring of the crowd. Each time an organization took the stage, its fellow brothers or sisters came up to stand beside the judge’s table, singing along to songs and cheering them on.

Fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha and sorority Delta Sigma Theta won first place and received $2,000. For the fraternities, Omega Psi Phi took second place with Iota Phi Theta in third. For the sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha came in second place with Sigma Gamma Rho in third. Steppers were judged on categories such as precision, creativity, difficulty, appearance, sportsmanship, originality and crowd response. According to Kanya Dawkins, the events performance coordinator, the judges focused primarily on difficulty and skill, rather than costume and appearance.

Dawkins said each organization incorporates their own traditions into their performance including a unique stepping style. Dawkins said, like any other competition, the performances were held secret until the actual show.