If you’ve never been to a step show (as I hadn’t) it’s a bit like stepping into a loud, crazy pep rally. It’s kind of a combination of pep rally, dance concert, play, cheer competition, and party. It’s insane… and also tons of fun.

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Ogden Hall on the Hampton University campus was absolutely packed with rowdy, enthusiastic audience members. A large majority of those seemed to be members of the Greek community that weren’t going to be performing, the rest were a mix of HU students, faculty, some high school students, and then just the random people like me. Security was everywhere – big and scary and weapon-toting, but fortunately they weren’t needed for anything more than intimidating glowering from doorways.

The performers had their hands full trying to project loudly enough to be heard over the raucous audience. Fortunately, the crowd was as quick to make their opinions known on the things they liked as they were for the things the didn’t. Talk about immediate feedback.

The first sorority to perform was Alpha Kappa Alpha. One girl was in the corner, searching the computer for into on joining AKA, and the other girls would answer her questions with a severe, military-ish chant while they did their routine. Unfortunately, several of the girls had their own lines, but not being mic’d, I couldn’t tell you what they were saying.

During the transitions between groups, the audience got up and danced to the (very loud) music. The first couple of times, the dancing was in the aisles. After a while though, the impromptu dance party was allowed to travel in a line across the front of the stage. After a chaos period, everyone finally started moving in the same direction. He called it ‘organized chaos’… I just saw chaos from where I was sitting, but hey, at least people were having fun.

After AKA was the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha, aka “Ice Cold”. These gentlemen were definitely my favorite group of the evening, and apparently the judges agreed with me because they won first in the men’s category at the end of the night. Their scene was in a museum, with a guide giving a tour through the A-Phi exhibit. The “statues” came to life of course, and played some tricks on the dumb custodians – freezing every time they turned around.

Not only did these boys have it together, they were also fun… and incredibly hot

Next up was Phi Beta Sigma – another fraternity – but I wasn’t really a big fan of their concept for their performance. A few of the guys were planning a job (stealing something or other) but were stopped by the cops and taken to jail. In jail they were beaten by the cops and sentenced to 50 years to life, all the while complaining of the injustice of it all. What kind of message were these guys trying to send? That their members commit crimes a lot? Not the best marketing campaign in my opinion.

The fraternity Omega Psi Phi was next with a “training warriors” theme. Perfectly fine as far as themes go, but unfortunately they had quite a few, um… costume malfunctions. One poor guy, not the fittest of men, had to do nearly the entire show topless because his armor fell off right at the beginning. He’s a trooper, though. Dude just kept right on going, even when his pants also started to slip.  Points for perseverance.

Last up was the sorority Zeta Phi Beta, whose show took place in a beauty salon, complete with the grandma who told the younger girls what the Greek men were like in her day. The ladies then did a tribute to the various campus fraternities – much to the enjoyment of the frat guys in the audience. Their choreography was clean and they were fierce while still having fun, earning them first place in the ladies’ category.

The might was full of a crazy sort of fun – tons of enthusiasm, school and Greek spirit, and lots of support for fellow students. Basically a big huge party. I wouldn’t suggest this sort of thing if you’re sensitive to loud noise, but otherwise I definitely tell you to take a big group of friends to the next step show you happen upon. And I can now tell you from experience that Hampton U puts on a good one.