Members of Dartmouth's fraternities and dance troupes will gather in Leede Arena on Saturday to showcase their stepping skills at the 21st annual Step Show, hosted by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Green Key weekend will feature a variety of other performances as well, including music, dance and slam poetry.
The step show will feature step performances from members of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Alpha Phi sorority, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega sorority, Lambda Upsilon Lambda fraternity, SHEBA dance troupe, Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the STACCATO Step Team and Ujima dance group. Over 1,200 people are expected to attend the event, Alpha Phi Alpha president William Hernandez '13 said.
"We're doing a lot more advertising this year," Hernandez said. "We're doing trailers, pre-trailers and spreading the news through word of mouth. I think we'll be able to attract a lot more people."
Hernandez said the event is significant to many members of the minority Greek organization community.
"For us and many of the minority Greek organizations involved, there's a lot of history behind stepping," he said. "We see stepping as an empowering activity. It's something that we like to do. We find strength through the sound and movement of stepping."
Many of the groups chose specific themes for their parts of the show, which influences how the performances are choreographed, Hernandez said.
The show is organized primarily by Alpha Phi Alpha, though the Special Programs and Events Committee provides significant funding.
Each member of Alpha Phi Alpha was assigned a specific role in the organization of the event, Hernandez said.
Hernandez also said the involvement of new groups in the show will add to the quality and success of the event.
"The addition of SAE and [Alpha Phi] is going to be very exciting," Hernandez said. "They did a great job in Staccato's Step For Autism event, and we felt like they'd be a very good contribution and bring diversity to the show."
Catherina Yang '13, a member of SHEBA, said she is excited to participate in the show.
"We always love performing at the Green Key Step Show," Yang said. "It's great to perform with other dance groups, and the audience is really amazing because they are so responsive to how hard everyone has worked."
Doors will open for the Step Show at 5:00 p.m., and the show is expected to begin at 5:30 p.m, though these times are subject to change, according to Hernandez.
In addition to the Step Show, several other performance events will take place over Green Key weekend.
The band Warm Weather will perform at Phi Delta Alpha fraternity's Block Party on Friday. The four-person band features two Dartmouth alumni, Justin Lerman '10 and Brendan Lynch-Salamon '10, who are former members of the Dartmouth Aires and competed in the NBC "The Sing-Off" competition this past fall.
The band has received recognition from several producers and radio stations, including the online radio and music player Exfm.
Warm Weather has been playing on a two-week tour along the East Coast and will perform their final show of the tour at Phi Delt on Friday afternoon. Lerman said he is excited for the opportunity to perform on campus again.
"I remember being at the Green Key Block Party last year and seeing the band and thinking, Man, it would be sweet to play this,'" Lerman said. "I'm really excited to come back. It's going to be cool for me to come back and feel connected to the school again in a real way."
Members of the campus band Clusterfunk will reunite at Psi Upsilon Fraternity on Saturday, where they will open for the Viceroy concert at 10 p.m.
Because the group members now live in different states, it has been difficult for Clusterfunk to perform regularly, Doug Nelson '10 said.
"We've played at Psi U quite a few times in the past, and it's always fun," Nelson said. "It's really a fun opportunity, and we always have a good time. Green Key is the last big weekend that everyone goes up for, so I'm really excited for that element."
The Subtleties will have an open show on the Collis Center porch at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
The Handel Society will have a concert on Saturday at 8 p.m. in Spaulding Auditorium, where they will perform Brahms' "Requiem" and Schoenberg's "A Survivor from Warsaw."
Sigma Delta sorority hosted a show featuring Soul Scribes, Fusion and the Subtleties on Wednesday night.
The Soul Scribes' show featured original pieces, as well as some collaborations with other performance groups, according to Soul Scribes president Anna-Kay Thomas '12. "We have a ton of new poetry we've been working on, and a few people performing just got back from nationals," Thomas said. "We're also going to be doing a collaboration with Fusion, which we're really excited about."
Other performance groups did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
