
As Delta Sigma Theta's "Devastating Divas" stomped into the spotlight of Irvine Auditorium's stage Saturday night, they were greeted by the screams and cheers of a sold-out audience.
The Devastating Divas were a part of "Stomping On the Yard," a national step show and scholarship competition that involves over a million students belonging to nine fraternal organizations called "The Divine Nine."
The celebrated ritual of "stepping" involves synchronized percussive movement, singing, chanting, dancing and drama.
The performance in Irvine Auditorium Saturday night marked the fifth-annual scholarship benefit show for the Multicultural Greek Council step teams. Participating Penn chapters included Sigma Psi Zeta, Delta Sigma Theta and Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Chapters of Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi fraternities from other local schools also performed in the show. DST and Omega Psi Phi took home the two $2,000 scholarships.
According to Larry Moses, program coordinator of fraternity and sorority affairs, "Stomping On the Yard" is a "rich tradition" that is "generally considered to be one of the best shows in the North East quarter."
This year, the crowd went wild with screams and cheers for each of the seven performances of the night.
College senior and Sigma Psi Zeta stepmistress Phedra Penn said that Saturday night was the first time an Asian sorority step team had performed in the show on Penn's campus.
Even though her team did not participate in the scholarship competition, Penn said she enjoyed the opportunity to show off her team's skills.
"I'd been playing with the idea [of starting a team] for a while, but really pushed it through this year," she said. "I jumped at the opportunity to perform for a larger audience."
The sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha also performed last night, turning cartwheels and stomping in high heels and hot-pink masks. The presentation was so high-energy that many audience members stood up and danced.
"I think we went out there and we brought it," said College senior and member of Delta Sigma Theta Martina Previl of her group's performance. This was the second-consecutive year that Delta Sigma Theta performed in the show.
In addition to the Penn groups, last night's performance also featured the Unknown Sigma Step Team, a world-renowned group made up of graduates from the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity at universities across the country.
Their performance included a dance to the popular "Crank Dat" by Soulja Boy and its spin-off, "Crank Dat Spiderman," complete with costumes and a Chinese dragon gyrating to the theme from The Lion King.
"I think it went really great," said Engineering senior and Alpha Kappa Alpah's stepmisstress Raina Wallace, "You know it went great when the crowd cheers like that."
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