AKA calls for Greeks to step it up

Thanks to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., University of Richmond students were given a little taste of stepping last weekend.

AKA hosted its first "Step Into Our World" step show on Saturday Night at the Pier to promote cultural awareness and unity among different sororities and fraternities on campus. The Pier was decorated in AKA's colors pink and green and students from various organizations attended the show. It began with a short introduction by Leah Adams, AKA's former president, who completed her term in January.

Members of Pi Beta Phi were the first to perform. Dressed in all black and wearing angel wings, a symbol for their sorority, the girls stepped and clapped to their own personal chant about their sorority.

Junior Pi Phi Lucy Hester said the members of her sorority enjoyed participating in the step show. Because they didn't have much stepping background, an AKA sister came to their first meeting to give them pointers about stepping, she said. After that, they put the routine together themselves.

"We had so much fun doing this, but it's sad that other sororities didn't come out," she said.

Adams said all of the sororities were contacted about the show, and there was a lot of interest expressed at first, but some groups dropped out for various reasons. She added that she hoped there would be more participants in the future, and AKA would have more time to help the different participants put together routines.

The Phi Gamma Delta fraternity was the next group to perform, and their stepping was loud and entertaining, earning a great response from the audience.

Directly following FIJI's routine, a member of AKA gave a brief history of African stepping.

Junior JB Khanyile, a member of the African Student Association performed a short segment of the African gumboot dance to show the history. A friend of many AKAs, he was asked to perform at the step show and said he thought it was a great event.

"It would have been better if more people attended, and hopefully next year they will," he added.

The final routine was performed by the members of AKA.

"We put together a montage of steps as a showcase to show what we do," Adams said. Parts of the routine had chants about the sorority, when it started and the group's mission. It was well-received by the audience.

After the routines, refreshments were offered for everyone who attended the show.

Adams said that the members of AKA organized the step show because they wanted to try something new, as this was the first year they participated in Pan-Hellenic council. She said she thought the sororities should work together more closely because they were all Greek organizations, and it would be great to have more unity among the groups.

Contact Reporter Aly McArdle at aly.mcardle@richmond.edu