At this year’s 100th homecoming, the Greek Step Show featured performances from all nine Black sororities and fraternities.
Hundreds of students, alumni, Greek-affiliated visitors and other homecoming attendees lined up outside Burr Gymnasium last Friday night waiting to enter the sold-out step show, the first in years that all Greek organizations of the Divine Nine (D9) took to the stage.
As the doors opened at 7 p.m., ticket collectors let in the crowd that soon packed the gym’s bleachers and rows of chairs on the floor in front of the stage.
Tyla’ Woods, a junior marketing major, served as co-coordinator for the step show this year. She hopes people took away a sense of unity from the show given the presence of all nine organizations.
“We have a full yard this year, so that’s really exciting, especially for the 100th, so I just hope that people just get a sense of family when they leave here, and connection, because I feel like Howard needs it,” Woods said.
Five of the D9 organizations — Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. — are Alpha chapters, the founding chapters, and were founded on Howard’s campus. The step show is an annual competition among the organization’s teams that began in 1976.
As they prepared to take the stage, members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. held a private pre-show prayer. Members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., Alpha Phi chapter, danced in their nun costumes, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. posed for pictures.
Musical artist BenDaDonnn hosted the show, and the Alpha Tau Chapter of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. kicked off the performances. Each organization’s team selected classic films from the Black community. The Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.’s “Beta Boys” referenced the movie series “Bad Boys” and the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. members based their step performance on “Sister Act.”
