Frats and sororities to show off their steps

Steel City Step Show

Hosted by the National Pan-Hellenic Council

Soldiers &… Steel City Step Show

Hosted by the National Pan-Hellenic Council

Soldiers & Sailors

Feb. 26 — doors open at 5 p.m., show starts at 6 p.m.

$8 for Pitt students at the WPU Box Office, $15 at the door

412-648-7832

Cries of “Eee-Yip” — Sigma Gamma Rho’s official call — and stomping feet echoed down the hallway of the fifth floor of Posvar Hall Wednesday night.

The women of Sigma Gamma Rho practiced their routine for the Steel City Step Show, the National Pan-Hellenic Council’s 14th annual stepping competition.

According to Chanell Turlington, the Council’s vice president, “The campus has never seen Sigma Gamma Rho step nor has it seen Iota Phi Theta step” until this year. This is the first time eight of the Divine Nine National Pan-Hellenic Council member organizations will be showcased at once.

The show offers an opportunity for historically black Greek life organizations from across Pittsburgh to interact and compete for the title of best fraternity and best sorority performance.

The steppers will clap, stomp, cheer and dance across the stage, riling the crowd with humor and stunts. Past performers have donned Spartan costumes, formed themselves into the shape of a snake and mocked a designated “nerd.”

Judges will look for performances that demonstrate a group’s precision, synchronization and ability to work the crowd.

Alphi Phi Alpha has taken the fraternity title for two years running, a feat its members attribute to pure dedication. Jay Oriola, President of Pitt’s National Pan-Hellenic Council and a member of the fraternity, said the group has been practicing for several hours each night since the beginning of the semester.

Mike-Frank Epitropoulos, a professor of sociology at Pitt, said in an e-mail that dedication and unity have been central in stepping since its origins among black miners in South Africa. For the miners, stepping and stomping in work boots was a show of solidarity against the brutality of their bosses, as well as a way to unwind during free time.

Slaves brought this dance, called the gumboot, with them when they were sent to America, where it remained a means of demonstrating against their masters, Epitropoulos said. After the Civil War, stepping faded away until newly-formed black fraternities and sororities revived the practice in the 1900s. These groups combined the stomping of the gumboot dance with traditional African singing and dancing to create modern stepping.

Originally used as a means to impress and recruit pledges, stepping grew into a casual competition between organizations. After the rise of hip-hop break-dancing, Epitropoulos said, stepping became much more competitive, and is now even featured on shows like “America’s Best Dance Crew.”

As the form has evolved competitively, it has also matured artistically. Epitropoulos noted that stepping is now a “hard and clean competition through artistic expression.” He finds that every step routine needs to have an underlying message of “solidarity, cooperation, support and love just to get off the ground. However, the themes can range from pain, love, sorrow, joy — all of what life holds and what art expresses.”

The routines showcased at the Steel City Step Show transcend the traditional rhythms of stepping, incorporating props, imagery and complex themes. Several groups have styles they are particularly known for — Omega Psi Phi, for instance, is famous for using small hops.

Every year offers a chance for each organization to reinvent itself. Each fraternity and sorority choreographs their routine as a group, with individual members devising their own sections of the performance. Certain people might even play characters in small skits between steps, allowing a humorous or melodramatic anecdote to be told and giving the steppers a much needed rest.

Many routines incorporate the precision and power of military drills. These run the gamut from dressing up in fatigues and shouting cadence to lining up at attention before launching into African dances. This approach was popularized by African-American World War II veterans who used stepping as a way to bond with other soldiers in their segregated units.

The show draws increasing numbers of people from the University and beyond. Oriola said he was particularly happy that “not only are people becoming aware of it, but they are also asking questions,” turning the show into a forum.

In addition to a dance competition which celebrates history and culture, the Steel City Step Show aims to be an opportunity for leadership and service.

Turlington’s sorority, for example, visited the Wilkinsburg Boys & Girls Club and “talked to them about stepping and showed them a couple routines.” Last year, the organization gave away tickets to the show in exchange for donated goods for Haiti.