Fraternity members ready to step up to defend Stompdown title
The OU students who were dubbed as the best male steppers in the Big 12 last year have no plans to let another team stomp all over their chance defend that title.
Chelsea Lott, The Oklahoma Daily
Phi Beta Sigma President Maurice Chevalier (right) and members of the fraternity’s stomp team practice Thursday, in Dale Hall. The fraternity won last year’s Big 12 stomp competition with its “Toy Soldiers” routine. The members will compete in this year’s stompdown at 8 p.m. Saturday at Norman’s Embassy Suites. Chevalier said the inspiration for this year’s routine came from an exploration of the fraternity’s history and roots. The Zeta Phi Beta sorority helped choreograph the routine.
GO AND DO
Stompdown 2012
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Embassy Suites Hotel in Norman
PRICE: $12 in advance, $20 at the door
The Phi Beta Sigma step team is looking to Saturday’s Stompdown competition to validate its title, fraternity member Richie Mills said.
“Last year we were seen as the underdog. We heard rumors revolving around ‘they got lucky,’ ” said Mills, public relations senior. “This year I feel like we’re out to prove that it wasn’t a fluke.”
The fraternity members took home last year’s title with their performance, “Toy Soldier.” The victory not only won them a $1,500 cash prize, but recognition among the National Panhellenic community and it brought the members closer together, Mills said.
“Toy Soldier” was a collaboration among the entire fraternity, something the members did again for this year’s number, President Maurice Chevalier said.
“It was a group effort,” said Chevalier, management information systems senior. “One of our brothers, Adryan Moorefield, came up with one step. I came up with another, then we all put something in, and it went from there.”
Stepping is a choreography that requires a good amount of team effort, Chevalier said.
After the choreography was finalized, the team began practicing in November to ensure everyone was on the same page, he said.
“When this semester started back up, we got strict on meeting to get this routine down,” Chevalier said. “We’ve been meeting for an hour and a half during the week. We got this.”
Each year, step teams from across the Big 12 Conference meet for a stomp showdown to see which men’s and women’s teams are the best — and to take home $1,500, according to the event website.
While Stompdown is about stepping, the Phi Beta Sigma brothers believe it’s more than just the performance, fraternity member Jason Quaynor said.
“Our fraternity is more than that,” said Quaynor, English writing senior. “We’re about community, brotherhood and service. Stepping is just another part of what we are.”
Fraternity member Damion Thornton echoed his brother.
“We are brothers. We are a family,” said Thornton, multidisciplinary studies senior. “And we work together to build and show that.”
This year’s competition will be a chance for Phi Beta Sigma to solidify its stepping status with back-to-back victories — and prove the fraternity’s emergence was not by accident, Mills said.
“We won because we did. We brought it to the table,” Mills said.
Phi Beta Sigma is out to prove that this year, again.
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