The line outside the building snaked all the way onto the sidewalk of Broad Street. Inside, several speakers blasted bass-heavy hip-hop music that punched into the walls. The lights were darkened, except for a cherry red glow surrounding the stage.
All of this attention belonged to the 11 Main Campus fraternities and sororities that participated in the annual Greek Showcase and Step Exhibition last Friday night at McGonigle Hall.
Nearly 1,000 students, alumni, friends and family packed the stands to see how each group would perform during the two-hour event.
Senior Kasey Johnson, vice president of Temple’s Greek Association, said the event provided the Greek organizations from the Pan-Hellenic Conference, National Pan-Hellenic Council and Interfraternity Council an opportunity to share one stage .
“It allows people to see that we can all get along and perform together, even though we all do different things,” Johnson, who also helped organize and host the showcase, said.
Each group attempted to give a performance that stood out from the rest.
Dressed in black and white button-down shirts with red ties, the men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated performed their step routine while twirling red plastic candy canes in their hands. Later, each member stepped off stage and handed out roses to women in the audience.
“We always have to try to appeal to the ladies,” senior Kashif Forbes of Kappa Alpha Psi said.
The blue-clad women of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated sang a cappella, praising the history of their organization before stepping to Sean Paul’s latest dancehall single “We Be Burnin’.”
“We wanted to stay sexy and precise, but still go out there and stomp our hearts out,” said senior Toyin Awesu of Zeta Phi Beta.
Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity sang about “the trials and tribulations of the semester” which included anecdotes about how the Temple Police had broken up several of their parties. Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity came out dressed in knee-high tube socks, rapping about “representing Green Street” and then tossing pairs of autographed briefs into the crowd at the end of their performance.
The women of Alpha Epsilon Phi declared that “we have no rhythm and we can not rhyme” before dancing to a medley of songs.
“They gave an amazing performance,” sophomore Krista Chromiak of Alpha Epsilon Phi said. “I was really in awe.”
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated finished their step routine by inviting 2-year-old Faaris Muhammad on stage to dance with them.
“It was [my son’s] idea,” said Muhammad’s mother Jana Graham. “He loved it.”
In purple shirts, army-fatigue pants and combat boots, the members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated declared that it was “time to get nasty” using part of their performance to impersonate other fraternities before beginning their step routine.
“It was all out of love,” junior Royal Spurlark of Omega Psi Phi said, adding that the groups shook hands and socialized after the showcase.
“Everyone understood that it was all for fun,” Spurlock said.
Johnson said all of the participants and spectators at the showcase were especially cooperative.
“The event went very well this year, onstage and backstage,” she said. “Everyone in the crowd was lively and cheerful for each group.”
Tyson McCloud can be reached at Tyson@temple.edu.
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