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5th Annual Step Show

WHAT: Black Student Reunion Presents the Annual Step Show

WHERE: Student Recreation Center

WHEN: 7 p.m. – 10 p.m.

COST: $20 at the door, $15 at the ticket office

Master of Ceremonies: Comedian Damon Williams

Tickets on sale at the ticket office in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union

P, B, PBS – STEP!

The student recreation center’s dance studio explodes in rhythmic hand-clapping, foot-stomping, stick-slapping noise.

It’s a normal night for the Phi Beta Sigmas, as well as other teams preparing for the annual step show. The teams practice more than two hours a day and have been doing so for two months.

The show, which begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Student Recreation Center, will include five fraternities and three sororities from the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

Some Phi Beta Sigmas have never stepped and must first learn how to step before they learn how to incorporate new moves.

Others have stepped before and must display patience in their new teammates.

But for all of them, the goal is simple: win another title and earn money toward their fraternity.

Uh, oh, oh, oh, oh .

The group begins its transition step. Quick, solid moves that take them from one formation to the next formation in the step sequence.

The Boss

For Darryl Robinson, his second year on the step team is a little different than the first.

This year, the senior marketing major was promoted to step master of Phi Beta Sigma, who serves as the main choreographer for the show.

It hasn’t been easy.

Robinson works four nights a week at the student recreation center. This sometimes gets in the way of practice and he sometimes shows up midway through.

Even after working a full shift, he still must incorporate himself into the practice and try not to miss a beat.

“I’m always tired,” he said. “But if you win the money, it’s an accomplishment.”

The winning fraternity and sorority each earns $1,000 while second place receives $500.

The remaining money taken in goes toward the National Pan-Hellenic Council and the Office of Minority Affairs.

While the step master has final say on which steps will go into the final show, all members of the team have input.

The different characters and personalities on the team come out in the steps.

“That’s why a lot of people cling to us because we don’t act the same way,” Robinson said. “We all have different personalities.”

As the team has worked together more, the routine has gotten better and more crisp.

“The first practice was the hardest practice I’ve ever had,” he said. “But now we’re getting so close to the step show that they actually understand what’s going on.”

And other than money, Robinson said there are other reasons besides the money that drives the team.

“For the love of stepping,” he said. “It’s a good feeling to win and put all that hard work in.”

Get funky with it!

The team is now split in three groups. After the three groups perform their individual steps, they are synchronized and all do their steps simultaneously.

The Newbie

Junior sports management major Frank Dukes had never been on a step team before this semester.

He is one of five steppers on Phi Beta Sigma competing for the first time.

Early in the semester, Dukes said the inexperience showed.

“The first day was horrible,” he said. “It sounded like thunder and lightning.”

The team practices about two hours a day and that has helped their routine improve.

But the team’s progression doesn’t just happen during practices.

Dukes said he sometimes catches himself practicing steps while waiting in line for lunch.

With homework, step practice, community service work and meetings, Dukes said one thing that has been difficult has been balancing his day.

“It’s been tough,” he said. “It’s a lot of work. You can never say you have nothing to do.”

After two months of practice, the steppers have come together and started showing the form they hope will give them a third straight title. With the step show fast-approaching, newcomers like Dukes have had to balance the pressure of winning with the desire to enjoy the new experience.

“It’s something I’ve never done,” he said. “I never expected myself to do this. I just like a new challenge.”

Is Delta Chi, is delta chi in the house tonight, stand up Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!

Eight of the group stand back and watch as two men jump to the front and perform individual steps.

The Veteran

Stepping is nothing new to Darryl Samuel.

After joining Phi Beta Sigma in the spring of his freshman year, the senior business marketing major joined the step team in the fall of 2006. This will be his third step show and he has yet to experience a loss.

“I don’t want to know that feeling either,” he said.

Samuel said he relishes his role as a team leader.

“I was looking up at the older guys and now I know they look up to me,” he said. “It makes me feel good to know I can help somebody with the steps to make sure that we have a good show.”

Samuel is a part of the Black Student Reunion committee that is organizing the show.

Every two years, the reunion is held to bring back alumni and have them interact with the new group of students and organization members.

“You get to see a lot of the old school,” Samuel said. “It’s nice to see somebody who chartered the chapter. It’s nice to say that we met them.”

Even as a third-year stepper, Samuel said the practices can be hectic and very time-consuming.

But the lessons he has learned in time management cannot be overstated.

“You lose your whole life,” he said. “But it does stop me from procrastinating.”

The Emcee

Cedric Watson served as the show’s host last year.

The host tries to keep the crowd entertained between fraternities.

This year, however, the junior speech communications major will be in the show.

“It brings us all together and we ll get closer,” he said. “It’s all in fun but we don’t want to lose. But it’s just going to be fun.”

Frank Dukes, a junior sports management major, works on the the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated step show routine with other Sigmas in the dance studio of the Student Recreation Center. (Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

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