BOOM boom clap, bah Boom boom clap! Tomorrow night, six of Duke's National Pan-hellenic Conference fraternities and sororities will step to a different beat as the annual Homecoming Step Show becomes the annual Homecoming Step Show competition.
In the past, customary expressions of the excitement and entertainment of Duke step shows have included on-stage shower scenes, Super-Soaker attacks, beds floating down from the rafters of Page Auditorium and other variable skits and pranks. But organizers have implemented more stringent rules this year prohibiting such antics to foster a more competitive atmosphere.
Every fall since 1975, members of Duke's historically black Greek organizations have ignited Page with dazzling displays of artistry, precision, rhythm and pride in their respective fraternities and sororities. Stepping is a unique African-American dance form that progressively developed among black greeks throughout the 20th century. Characterized by the production of rhythmic sound through body movements like stomping feet, clapping hands and slapping various parts of the body, stepping draws on a variety of influences, from South African gumboot dancing to military marching to cheerleading.
In Steppin' on the Blues, her seminal work on African-American dance traditions, Jacqui Malone also details how the complex rhythms and precise body movements trace their roots to traditional western and central African dances.
"A unifying thing in Africa is drumming and using your body for rhythmic sound," said senior Rene Stokes, step master for Delta Sigma Theta sorority and an organizer of the Homecoming event. "That translates to stepping, which has become a signature aspect of greek life and greek performance."
As Spike Lee depicted in his 1988 film School Daze, competition has been an integral feature of stepping on college campuses--a tradition that Duke step teams happily join this year.
"It gives a new energy to the steppers themselves and to the audience," Stokes said. "If nothing more than for a reward for all the time you put into it."
The fraternity and sorority that win the $500 first-place honors will certainly have earned it--step teams have been rehearsing two hours a day since the first day of school in August, and step masters begin choreographing moves during the summer.
Courtney Fauntleroy (Trinity '95, Law '01) attended his first Duke step show as a high school student in 1986 and has been to every one since 1991. A founding member of the Alpha Alpha Chi chapter of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and a former member of its step team, Fauntleroy has witnessed the changing trends in stepping both at Duke and nationally.
"There's a lot more dancing now than there used to be," Fauntleroy said. "Step used to be done outside in the middle of the quad. Now it's on wood floors with special shoes."
One thing that hasn't changed, though, is the signature step of each greek organization. The Alpha Train, the Kappa Shimmy, the DST Timeline, the AKA Serious Matter��no doubt they'll each make an appearance tomorrow night. The question is, which teams will step off the stage with the prize and, maybe more importantly, the pride?
The Step Show begins at 7 p.m. Friday in Page Auditorium. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.