2019 Greek Sing pleases performers, raises funds for Children’s Miracle Network

As the lights went down on a packed Fitzgerald Field House Friday night, the air filled with a multitude of chants, cheers and applause. In total, 20 total fraternities and sororities gathered in one place for a night of dancing, singing and friendly competition all in the name of a great cause.

Finishing off Pitt’s Greek Week, “Greek Sing” 2019 brought a large crowd to the field house. The event is held annually as a spirit event for Pitt’s Greek life, but also as a fundraiser for the Children’s Miracle Network.

Each team, a pairing of at least one sorority and fraternity, was formed in October. In the five months between then and performance day, each group was tasked with picking a theme and choreographing nine dances fitting a certain theme — like recreating a movie marathon or episode of the show “Survivor” in dance form — in time for the show. Each dance had to fit in the alloted 11 minutes to qualify.

Pi Kappa Alpha and Tri Delta got meta with “Freaky Friday,” featuring the group hitting a bit of a snag in their “Greek Sing” rehearsals when the guys and girls switched bodies as a punishment for not cooperating with each other, barely pulling it together in time for the big performance. Delta Phi Epsilon, Alpha Epsilon Phi and Tau Kappa Epsilon also found themselves victims of a strange transformation during their performance of “Amazing Comics: The Adventures of Greek Sing.” The group danced its way through the story of its mutation into unstoppable supervillians with some OG-Marvel-comic-inspired special effects, including a quick tribute to Stan Lee.

It seemed quite a few of the groups had a bit of nostalgia for high school, with Chi Omega, Delta Sigma Pi and Sigma Phi Epsilon showcasing a daring escape from detention for crimes such as dancing on the lunch tables or having too much drip, all the while in their school uniforms. The high school senior-week-inspired performance by Alpha Delta Pi, Sigma Alpha Mu, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Pi Lambda Phi, “Road Trip Across America,” featured creative numbers inspired by different landmarks in the United States — and yes, of course, a kick line to “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra, the trap remix. Even Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Tau Omega and Sigma Beta Rho got in on the wild school-days-inspired action, whipping out the school uniforms for their “Senior Skip Day” theme.

The winners among the teams of fraternities and sororities were decided by three judges — Miss Laurel Highlands 2019 Theresa Dickerson, Pitt cheer and dance team coach Theresa Nuzzo and Pitt assistant athletic director Blair Dunkle, who ultimately chose Kappa Delta, Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Kappa Theta’s meme-filled “The Office” performance as the winner. In second place came Delta Zeta and Beta Theta Pi with “Beauty and the Geek,” and for third place, Phi Sigma Rho and Pi Kappa Phi with “Movie Marathon.”

For the performers, it was not about winning, however. It was about raising money for the Children’s Miracle Network. The teams raise money for the Miracle Network through sales of tickets and also throughout the night of the event, when money is put in the different fan-favorite jars of the respective teams.

Best friends and brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon Ll’Rae Robinson, Crandall Jones and AJ Jones were among the many fraternity brothers from across all of Pitt’s IFC and NPHC fraternities that stepped up to represent their organizations. The trio agrees that it was the time spent rehearsing that made their Greek Sing experience worthwhile.

“When we started, we didn’t know a single person [from the organizations we worked with], and now we’re super close,” Crandall Jones, a sophomore neuroscience major, said.

According to AJ Jones, the sorority ladies, some with extensive dance or cheer experience, put in most of the choreography work. This year, they all whipped their male counterparts into top-performance shape. This trio particularly recounted how Chi Omega schooled them in the art of dance.

“Before this, I did not even know what a kick-ball change was. We definitely learned some jargon,” AJ Jones, a sophomore undecided major and member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, said.

Sometimes, performing for a big crowd can be nerve-racking. However, for the performers at “Greek Sing,” the nerves disappeared as soon as they realized they were having the time of their lives with their close friends.

“When we got out there [on stage], none of us were nervous, we just knew we were gonna have such a good time that nothing else mattered at that point,” Robinson, a sophomore finance major, said.

For AJ Jones and his pals, performing at the event was a great way to get them out and doing something they never would have done otherwise.

“Overall it was a really valuable experience, stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something completely different,” AJ Jones said.

Tucker Yovetich, a brother of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and sophomore communication major, also danced in Friday night’s performance. For him, the work put in to prepare the performance was definitely worth being able to share the stage with some of his best friends and some new friends as well.

“It was a lot of work and a time commitment but it really paid off in the performance,” Yovetich said. “Getting to know members of other Greek organizations was really cool, too.”