Tuesday night, women from the eight Panhellenic sororities battled it out on the dance floor in a modern rendition of the War of the Roses.
In its first year, the philanthropic event — hosted by the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity at the Trocadero Theatre, located at 10th and Arch streets — helped raise around $3,000.
Half of the proceeds will go to a charity chosen by Delta Delta Delta, the winner of last night’s final dance off against Alpha Phi. The other half will go to a charity organization chosen by Pi Kapp.
The competition attracted a huge turnout from the Greek community, despite coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Passover. More than 800 tickets were sold.
Tri Delt won over the judges with a saucy routine to “Cell Block Tango” from the Broadway musical Chicago and “Glamorous” by Fergie.
“We had a great time,” Tri Delt sister and College sophomore Alexa DePasquale said. She added that Tri Delt chose to dance to a “jazz-based” song. “A lot of sororities, I figured, would choose the hit songs of 2010,” she said.
Each sorority choreographed a dance routine with at least five women. Sigma Kappa incorporated a video and mash-up of five different songs, and Lady Gaga made a cameo appearance in Alpha Chi Omega’s dance.
Routines were evaluated based on their quality, creativity and ability to win over the crowd.
Interest for the event was also generated by a secondary competition between sororities to sell the most tickets in the days leading up to the event. Guests were required to specify which sorority they were supporting.Chi Omega, the sorority that placed third in the dance competition, sold 168 tickets and won $1,000 from the proceeds.
“The idea came from the fact that there are a lot of similar fraternity competitions but nothing for sororities,” said Wharton junior, Pi Kapp brother and event organizer Marcos Perez, who began planning the event in October.
“It’s kind of like a Big Man On Campus meets Karaoke Phiver,” he added, citing Alpha Chi Omega and Alpha Phi’s respective annual charity fundraisers that involve competitions between fraternities.
Perez said the name of the event — War of the Roses — comes from a “play on words” alluding to 15th century civil wars in England.
“The rose is also a symbol of Pi Kappa Phi,” he added. “Traditionally, a group of girls or a sorority is crowned ‘the rose’ of Pi Kapp.”
When asked whether Pi Kapp brothers had any favorites this year, Perez responded, “We tend to get along with girls from most sororities.”
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