On Friday, between the Sa’J 7 and Amy Speace & The Tearjerks concerts, the Carnival main stage served as the venue for this year’s step show. Three groups performed in the show: Kappa Phi Lambda, a sorority established a year and a half ago, who have been stepping for a year; Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity, who have been been stepping for the two years they have existed; and Kappa Alpha Psi, a fraternity, now in their third year of stepping.

For those who have never heard of it before, “step” refers to a style of dancing involving various combinations of clapping, stomping, and urban dance. The roots of stepping come from historically black fraternities and sororities. Tricks and props, such as canes and blindfolds, are often added to make steps more interesting and challenging. Step groups are also known to use acting and humor in their shows.

The first group to perform on Friday was the Kappa Phi Lambda sorority. Their performance began with a mid-stage, two-girl showdown, with the girls’ mouthing over a track of Japanese speech. The rest of the girls soon joined their sisters in a dance to a clip from Missy Elliot’s song “I’m Really Hot.” As the crowd cheered enthusiastically, the girls performed a number of kick tricks and traditional step routines. The Kappa girls had a very clean style, executing various clap and stomp patterns smoothly. Routines were performed either as a whole group or as a ripple with half the stage starting a routine and the other half imitating it.

To segue into the next performance, the brothers of Lambda Phi Epsilon made their way onto the stage, pushing the Kappa sisters off to the side. A representative from each group met mid-stage for a mirror routine, in which basic movements and steps were done. Once they finished this, the Lambda brothers forced the girls completely off the stage and began their step. Compared to Kappa Phi Lambda, the Lambdas’ style involved much more intensity. They used a combination of forceful clapping, heavy stomps, and enthusiastic grunts, giving a very fierce performance. While the performers took their stepping very seriously, they still managed to make the crowd laugh with some play acting, involving a final dance with Kappa sisters to Beyoncé’s “Naughty Girl.”

The final performance came from Kappa Alpha Psi, a fraternity chapter that, though officially a part of the University of Pittsburgh, contains Carnegie Mellon students. Their routine began with the brothers strolling out to the Nick Cannon song “Feelin’ Freaky,” followed by a short segment involving spinning red and white canes, the signature mark of their routine. The brothers performed many tricks and tosses, eliciting praise from the audience. Next, they dropped the canes and stepped in a polished style, with everyone completely in synch. They also added some humor to their performance, jokingly asking “why do the ladies love us so much?” while stepping and replying simultaneously. Their step ended with another bout of cane twirling.

While the crowd seemed to be entertained by the performance, all organizations involved reported that stepping was more than something done for fun. Hannah Kim, a junior policy and management major and a sister of Kappa Phi Lambda, said that “sisters at other schools do step shows,” which made the Carnegie Mellon Chapter interested. Jason Ree, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, said that he and the other brothers of Lambda Phi Epsilon had started stepping for a similar reason. Sophomore international studies major David Latimore also listed tradition as a reason for stepping, but also admitted that he enjoyed “trying to make people happy.”

“It’s a whole crowd thing,” he said. “We love to get the crowd involved. When we step, we step for the people.”

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