Greek Sing features ‘exciting’ prom, Elvis and Gossip Girl themed performances

Fans of cartoons, scary movies and high school dances gathered at Bigelow Boulevard to cheer on their favorite groups during this year’s annual Greek Sing.

Fraternity and sorority members participated in Greek Sing, a dancing and singing competition, on Saturday. More than 1,800 students, alumni and Pittsburgh residents gathered at Bigelow Boulevard to watch performances that lasted about 10 minutes from 12 groups. The competition marked the end of Pitt’s annual Greek Week, which raises money for UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, which is a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

Members and supporters of the “navy blue” team from Phi Sigma Rho, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Mu and Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi were thrilled when they won the competition with their “The Prom” theme. Every year, the winning Greek Sing team is awarded a trophy at the FSL Awards.

Liz Acque, a member of Alpha Delta Pi and a Panhellenic Representative for Greek Week, said helping plan the event was worth the months of work. 

“The most exciting thing is seeing all of the teams have such a great time on stage,” Acque, a senior psychology major, said. “Their talent, hard work and dedication really shows, and it is an amazing thing to see. It truly makes all of the behind-the-scenes planning worth it to see the FSL community and the greater student body who come to watch are enjoying themselves.”

The first group to perform was Tri Sigma, Delta Tau Delta and Alpha Sigma Kappa with a “Pirates of the Caribbean” themed performance. Tri Delta, Phi Delta Theta and Tau Kappa Epsilon told Elvis’ story, and Kappa Delta, Phi Gamma Delta and Alpha Sigma Rho performed a number based on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

As the night went on, multiple groups put on performances for the audience, with a variety of themes, from pop culture phenomenons “Stranger Things,” “Gossip Girl” and “The Addams Family” to childhood favorites “Phineas and Ferb” and “Super Mario Bros.”

Ruby Germack, a first-year undecided major, said she thought Tri Delta, Phi Delta Theta and Tau Kappa Epsilon’s performance of Elvis stood out from the rest.

“From what I saw, I’d say my favorite performance was Elvis, as they seemed to be the most coordinated and were overall really entertaining,” Germack said.

Elliot Pippin, Pitt’s engagement manager, judged this year’s Greek Sing, along with Bea Amsalu, a 2022 Spirit of Pitt Award winner, Theresa Nuzzo, the head coach of the spirit program, and Susan Wesmiller, an alumna of Chi Omega Phi Beta and nursing school professor 

Amsalu, a senior neuroscience major, said after being in the audience for Greek Sing last year, she was overjoyed to be asked to judge this year.

“I am not a part of any Greek organizations, so they probably thought that I’d be a good neutral judge,” Amsalu said. “I absolutely loved Greek Sing last year, so when they asked me to judge, it was an easy yes.”

For Amsalu, getting to judge Greek Sing was just as exciting as participating.

“Overall, the experience of judging was super fun and I loved seeing all the teams’ hard work come to fruition through their performances,” Amsalu said. “I think that everyone put on a phenomenal show!”

Amsalu said the judges used scoresheets with criteria including choreography, singing integration and quality, adherence to theme and quality of the background video.

“At the end of the show, the other judges and myself deliberated and found that we had a clear top three based on numbers alone,” Amsalu said. “We then gave the superlatives to the groups that we thought deserved those too (most creative, best singing, best theme, and best choreography/dancing).”

Nathan Fligelman, a member of Pitt’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu and a sophomore biology and history major, said participating in the winning “prom” theme was the most exciting aspect of Greek Sing because he missed out on his prom in high school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fligelman said the rehearsal process was time-consuming, but ultimately paid off. He said during the performance he tried to stay in the present moment and enjoy the adrenaline rush while awaiting results. 

“We began with two rehearsals a week, but as we got closer to the event, we would practice every day,” Fligelman said. “It was a lot of repetition, but it was worth it.”

Allena Riggio, a junior industrial engineering major and Greek Sing Chair for Pitt’s chapter of Phi Sigma Rho, said she chose the prom theme to make it relatable. 

“I originally looked into doing a couple of different movies, but ultimately wanted to do something different,” Riggio said. “I ended up choosing the prom theme because it was a popular concept that mostly everyone could understand and relate to.” 

Riggio, whose choreography helped her team take first place, remembered the moment they won.

“The easiest way to describe the feeling of finding out we had won was simply crazy,” Riggio said. “We were all forming a circle with our arms interlocked, and as soon as the color navy was announced, everyone started jumping up and down.”

Fligelman said he would recommend the experience to anyone in Greek life. He said when he found out his group won the competition, “there was a lot of screaming.”

“Personally, I think that I am going to ride off into the sunset on this one because I don’t think that I could top this year’s performance, but I would definitely recommend the experience to others,” Fligelman said.