Greek Sing entertains, raises money for charity

The hallways surrounding the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Auditorium were filled… The hallways surrounding the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Auditorium were filled with giant cardboard crayons, backdrops depicting large cities and jungles, and softball bats. Members of Pitt’s Greek community negotiated these obstacles as they practiced songs and perfected dance moves. All of the ado, the props, the rehearsing; all of it was part of Friday’s annual Greek Sing event.

Hundreds of anxious audience members crammed into the auditorium to cheer on their friends and fellow Greeks. The event was the culmination of a month’s worth of practicing and fine-tuning their performances for the 22 Greek groups performing.

The evening was kicked off by the “Star Spangled Banner” to honor the American troops fighting in Iraq. Shortly thereafter, masters of ceremony Christopher DeLuca, Marcia LeDonne and Sarah Wagner took the stage and introduced the first act, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Epsilon Pi and Tau Epsilon Phi’s “Game Time.”

At many points in the evening, while DeLuca, LeDonne and Wagner were introducing the next act, they were drowned out by the boisterous audience.

After all was said and done, trophies were awarded to the top three performers.

Delta Zeta sorority and Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity walked away with the first place trophy and the award for best dancing. With sorority members dressed in revealing green dresses, and fraternity men clad in camouflage, the Greek pair wooed the audience while dancing to songs including Aqua’s “Tarzan and Jane” and Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave 4 U.”

Second place went to Chi Omega sorority and Delta Tau Delta fraternity. The twosome sang and danced to songs from the musical, “Chicago.” Third place was awarded to Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity’s unique performance titled, “Rags to Riches.” In addition to winning third place, the duo won the award for best creativity.

While sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma and fraternities Lambda Chi Alpha, and Kappa Sigma did not place in the top three, they won the award for best singing during their Latin music-themed act. During the performance, a male streaker who ran by holding red balloons, added flavor to the performance.

Jared Degnan and Dee Fahy, two of the event’s planners, admitted while they put in a lot of effort to make the evening a success, they weren’t nearly as stressed as the performers.

“Coordinating [the event] wasn’t bad,” Degnan said. “We had the easy part compared to the performers.”

Fahy mentioned the evening’s performances encompassed a wide array of music and dancing styles.

“A broad spectrum of different personalities was presented,” she said.

Greek Sing, along with the other Greek Week events, helped to raise more than $80,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network.