Annual step show has the beat again

The packed crowd in the Penn Relays stands shifted to the Class of 1923 Ice Rink bleachers Saturday night, when over 1,200 college students, Relays participants, Greek organization members and Philadelphia area residents turned out for the BiCultural InterGreek Council and Undergraduate Assembly's annual Penn Relays step show. Six of the nine BIG-C fraternities and sororities slated to perform in last weekend's show -- consisting of historically African-American rhythmic dances that involve clapping, stomping, cheering and precise dance steps -- competed for one $500 first prize and one $250 second prize in the two fraternity and sorority categories. The Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity nabbed this year's first-place award, with the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity taking second. And the Alpha Kappa Alpha and Zeta Phi Beta organizations -- the only sororities competing -- won first and second place respectively in the event organized by the BIG-C, which represents minority Greeks from Penn and surrounding colleges such as Villanova and Drexel. The performance began 45 minutes late due to excessive amount of Relays traffic in the area. But once the festivities began, enthusiasm rose. "We're No. 1!" chanted Phi Beta Sigma from Temple University, the first group to perform. "We're having fun!" Winner Alpha Phi Alpha coordinated its dancing with flying cinder blocks, stepping with only one leg at times. BIG-C Program Director Larry Moses, the show's stage manager and a Phi Beta Sigma brother, added that at this year's show, organizers turned away over 300 people and doubled last year's 600-person audience due to increased campus-wide support from the Greek system, the Social Planning and Events Committee and the college house system. Also, for the first time in its nearly 20-year history, the BIG-C and the UA co-sponsored the step show and its afterparty with a $3,000 UA grant, according to Moses. "We express our gratitude and thanks to all the organizations that came out and supported us," Moses said. Throughout the event, DJ Colby Colb from the Power 99 radio station summoned any Omega Psi Phi brothers in attendance for an impromptu exhibition -- in the true exhibitionist sense -- that served as the show's slightly nude finale. "It got a little out of hand," Moses commented of the approximately 20 people on stage, adding that the brothers stopped their indecent behavior promptly after he asked them to do so. Saturday's event drew in Greeks -- sporting their letters on shirts, jackets and other paraphernalia --and non-Greeks from Pennsylvania and surrounding states. "I heard [about] it on the radio," said Jon Athan, a non-Greek junior at Rowan University in New Jersey, who learned about the step show and its afterparty from a promotion on Power 99. Engineering and Wharton freshman Shayna Williams, who has attended three BIG-C step shows at various schools, called the show an "excited and energy-filled environment," pointing out that while there was a "good amount" of representatives from Penn, the audience was predominantly composed of Greek organizations from area universities.