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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 2, 2005)
Step contest unites black greek community Dalenisha Crabtree of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. danced at the sixth-annual Step Show hosted by Zeta Phi Beta. This year’s event, “Ain’t No HalfSteppin',” was held Saturday evening in the EMU Ballroom. ———_—____ Nicole Barker | Photographer Members of the National Pan-Hellenic Conference took part in the "Ain't No Half Steppin" competition BY MATT CHABAN DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER A quiet pervades the EMU most Saturdays, its many amenities shut tered as students head off campus to party and study. But this Saturday the hip-hop that rumbled through the building was drowned out only by the thunder of a stomping and clapping crowd dur ing “Ain't No Half Steppin’,” the sixth-annual step competition put on by the members of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority. Because the University is pre dominantly white, “black greeks are underrepresented and unnoticed,” senior LaTina Lewis said. Lewis planned most of the step competi tion, a part of her responsibilities as president of Zeta Phi Beta. The Zetas established the step competition to bring together com munity members and students from BOOK YOUR SUMMER IN OREGON 2005 SUMMER SESSION GROUP-SATISFYING AND ELECTIVE COURSES, SHORT COURSES, SEMINARS, AND WORKSHOPS BEGIN THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER. Summer session begins June 20. Registration begins May 2. The UO Summer Session Catalog will be available in early April. You can speed your way toward graduation by taking required courses during summer. 2005 SUMMER SCHEDULE First four-week session: June 20-July 15 Second four-week session: July 18-August 12 Eight week session: June 20-August 12 Eleven week session: June 20-September 2 http://uosummer.uoregon.edu » ' *, *, ». >. * » 4 4 4 4 » » * # * t t UNIVERSITY OF OREGON SUMMER SESSION 333 Oregon Hall 1279 University of Oregon Eugene OR 97403-1279 Telephone (541) 346-3475 ( UNIVERSITY OF OREGON Check our website http://uosummer.uoregon.edu the nine traditionally black fraterni ties and sororities, known as the National Pan-Hellenic Conference. Kaon-Jabbar East, an alumnus of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity who now lives in California, read a histo ry of step during the Kappas’ performance. East dated stepping to colonial South African diamond mines, where slaves were robbed of their instruments for fear they might in sight an uprising. They then began to use their bodies in place of their drums, clapping, stomping on the ground and pounding their torsos, thighs or heads with their hands. Melissa Ballard, a University sen ior and Zeta sister, said the moves originated from black soldiers re turning from military service, which is why stepping demands “extreme precision.” “People give widely varying an swers to the simple question, when and where did stepping begin?” writes Elizabeth Fine, a Virginia Tech professor, in her book “A His tory of Stepping.” “While many African movement and communi cation patterns are clearly evident in stepping, the tradition was forged on college campuses in black frater nities and sororities out of the African heritage of speech, song, and dance.” A nearly full EMU Ballroom re flected student and community in terest in this heritage. “It’s just about the culture and the excitement of seeing a group of people work together as a team,” said junior LaTasha Brown. Kery White said he drove down from Portland for the show. “I come every year, and I’m a loy al fan. It’s a place to see family and friends, and it gets increasingly bet ter every year,” he said. The show opened with the differ ent greek organizations marching and stepping through the aisles. The first act, a duo from Portland called the Hip-Hop Group, stepped to a medley of contemporary hip-hop tracks. They were followed by the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. After East read the history information, he and three others performed a series of steps with canes that they slammed against the stage and spun into the air. After an intermission, the Sigma Beta fraternity from Seattle per formed a set filled with sexual innu endoes that garnered the most bois terous response from the audience. “What we’re gonna do right here is go back in time. Way back, be fore all the theatrics,” members of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority said as they took the stage for the final act of the night. But then the disco started blaring, and the Sigmas’ joke was revealed as they began to cop moves from “Saturday Night Fever.” During the sorority’s routine, 1 year-old Kaylen Lewis squirmed in her mother’s lap as she had for much of the show, but not from boredom. She, too, wanted to step. Wriggling free from Shereesa Lucas’ arms, Kaylen bobbed and jumped in the aisle, even pounding the floor once or twice. Just like the adults around her, she had a huge smile on her face. Oregon Daily Emerald. A campus tradition-over 100 years of publication.
