Alpha Phi Alpha won both first place fraternity and best overall performance at the National Pan-Hellenic Council’s step show Friday evening at the Murphy Center.
Marco Born, an employee of the athletic department box office, calculated attendance at around 3,500 based on ticket sales.
“We have about 6,000 [tickets] to sell, and we’ve sold about 3,500 so far,” Born said.
The show opened with a special guest performance by Nashville-based group “Southern Movement,” who were featured on season four of MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew.” The show continued with step lines from three fraternities and three sororities from the NPHC.
The crews employed props and video clips to accompany the step and dance routines. Local artist and choreographer Craig Watkins hosted the event and joined in the performance with an original dance routine.
The six judges awarded trophies to the first and second place fraternities and sororities, and also awarded an overall winner.
Jozmen Robinson of Alpha said he was “very proud of the turnout” for the event and of his fraternity brothers.
“We’ve been working probably since May,” Robinson said. “This is our sixth year winning and this is our first year to win overall.”
Robinson said he plans to step next year and hopes Alpha can extend the winning streak to ten years in a row.
Brandon Thompkins said he was also excited about winning the overall award. He could not step this year due to an injury, but he has participated for the last four years.
“This is the first year for a fraternity to win the overall prize,” Thompkins said. “I wanted to go out on a good note.”
Kappa Alpha Psi took second place fraternity for their “Family Matters” parody performance.
Delta Sigma Theta took first place sorority honors with their “Toy Story” themed performance, and Zeta Phi Beta took home the second place sorority award.
Thompkins said that the ticket proceeds go to cover the production costs, prize money to the winners and to benefit the NPHC.
The event drew a large crowd with students forming a line around the Murphy Center by 7 p.m.
Brianna Bingham, a sophomore at Oakland High School, came with her mother Kim and said she thought the attendance was similar to last year.
“It’s about the same as last year,” Bingham said. “I think more people will come but they’re in the line outside.”
Kim Bingham works for LT’s Trophy House, which provided the five trophies for the show.
“We do it every year,” Bingham said. “This is my first time coming, and I’m interested to see who actually wins them.”
NPHC treasurer, Terrance Adams, sold souvenir T-shirts and took preorders for DVDs before the performance and during intermission to raise additional funds to benefit NPHC. Adams said he hoped to sell out of the shirts during the show’s intermission.
Step show champs earn sixth win
Published: Sunday, October 25, 2009
Updated: Sunday, October 25, 2009
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