Stepping for pride

Students turn out to see who can stomp the yard, or in this case Milam Auditorium

By: Aleks Cherednichenko

Posted: 2/4/08

A few of OSU's fraternities and sororities showed off their moves Saturday night during the King and Queen of the Yard Tournament. Students stepped, strolled and chanted to showcase their pride in each respective fraternity and sorority.

Stepping is a historical form of communication and storytelling that is widely performed by fraternities and sororities that belong to the National Panhellenic Council - consisting of traditionally African American national sororities and fraternities, according to the Baylor University website.

Stepping dates back to the early 1900s when black veterans of World War I enrolled in colleges. Drawing from their military training, they brought to their dances a highly rigorous, drill like component - combining it with other dance forms.

"Stepping is a way of expressing ourselves, stepping is how we show how hype we can be," said Luis Palacios, a member of the Omega Delta Phi fraternity - one of the winners of the night.

Although stepping originated in the Divine 9 Greeks, a lot of Latino fraternities and sororities have adopted the tradition.

"It was intimidating [to compete] at first, but we're competing at the national level now," Palacios said. OSU's Omega Delta Phi chapter was the first in the Northwest to participate in stepping and strolling competitions.

Saturday's win was a huge morale booster for the Omega Delta Phi fraternity brothers, who also won during last year's competition, Palacios said.

Emanuel Magaña, a member of the Omega Delta Phi fraternity, has always wanted to step. After joining the fraternity in 2005, Magaña and two other fraternity brothers formed a strolling team.

The fraternity had their first win at a competition at the University of Idaho.

"While we were at a competition in California, some of our Texas brothers showed us stepping moves," Magaña said.

"Stepping gives us a chance to show pride in our organization, and we have something that we can work on together as brothers," he said.

The other victors of the night were the ladies of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Clad in salmon pink and apple green, the sorority sisters showed the crowd that even ladies can get crunk. The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority is the oldest Greek-letter organization, established in 1908, by African American college-trained women, according to the organization's official website.

Aleks Cherednichenko, news editor

news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231