By InSoo Lee
Staff Writer
Photo by Kimberly Williams
In celebration of Black History Month, On February 21, the African American Alliance hosted the 21st annual step show bringing five teams to the campus at Guerry Auditorium at 7PM. The Step Show is a showcase and competition of both Greek and non-Greek letter organizations using step that originates from African dance. According to Davante Jennings (C’15), the president of AAA, “The step show is a 21-year long tradition that exists because it fully embraces what we are doing as part of our mission: fostering community and unity through music, dance, and history. Sewanee’s step show is unique because it is such a small place and is difficult to get parties interested, but there is incredible energy when we do.”
At the event, Ricca Dickens (C’15) and Arvin Mitchell emceed the event. Special Guest Arvin Mitchell was a comedian brought by the Student Activities Board to help bring laughter to the step show. The synergy brought by Dickens and Mitchell helped set the atmosphere and help bring fluidity to the event especially during the dance battle among the audience members during a small break in the show.
The teams who participated in the Step Show included Men of Rampage from FL A&M, Ladies of Valor from FL A&M, Gamma Phi Beta from UTC, Gamma Sigma Phi from Sewanee, and the Sewanee Steppers from Sewanee. The Sewanee Tiger Girls also performed at the event in between all the acts. The competition was divided between sorority and fraternity teams in a broad term. Sewanee Steppers and Men of Rampage won first place; Gamma Sigma Phi and Ladies of Valor won second place.
Sandy Milien (C’17), who performed as a part of the Tiger Girls and as a Sewanee Stepper said, “This year’s step show was such an amazing experience. Even though the competition was tough, we didn’t lose hope, we knew that it was our job as the Sewanee Step team to defend our territory.”
Lastly, Jennings added that “This year’s step show was the best I’ve seen since being here and it is great way for me and the current AAA cabinet to end our positions as leaders of this organization. The step show is the biggest event of the year for us that we start planning in September each year so it is so nice to see success in our hard work and efforts for a large part of the year.”