The Beard Eaves Memorial Coliseum will be packed on Tuesday, April 7 at 7 p.m. with screaming girls from 17 sororities cheering on their member in the annual Greek Sing dance competition.

This year’s theme is Step Up 2 Greek Sing 2009 named after the dance movie “Step Up 2” that was release in 2008.

Greek Sing is panhellenic’s philanthropic event that raises money for the Lee County Habitat for Humanity. All ticket, t-shirt and DVD sales go to benefit Habitat. Pre-ordered tickets are $5 and $6 at the door, t-shirts are $10 and DVDs are $20.

Last year’s winner was Chi Omega whose theme was “Pirates of Chi Omega.” Second place was Phi Mu and third place was Kappa Delta. There is also a president’s award where each president votes for who she thinks ought to win.

T-shirt sales not only go to benefit a great cause, but the more t-shirts a sorority sells, the better seating section they are given. This motivation factor has helped keep the sales high and creates competition, apart from dancing, to get the best seat. Each year there is an award given for the most t-shirts sold which Alpha Omicron Pi won last year.

The newest award is for best backdrop and props, which was added this year. Panhellenic has set a strict budget for each sorority to abide by. For total props and backdrops, the sorority is permitted to spend a maximum of $100. Costumes and personal items are $20 per girl, which was increased from $10 last year.

Panhellenic encourages them not to spend much since the point of the philanthropy is dancing. However, no tryouts are allowed; instead, they encourage those who want to help, but aren’t natural dancers to work on the backdrop or props.

The 40 dancers allotted per sorority have been practicing since January in hopes of clenching the bragging rights of being first in Greek Sing. Each group has a theme and 5 minutes to perform and woo the five judges.

Second-time director of Chi Omega’s Greek Sing, Brittany Broadus, was in charge of attending meetings to draw theme, music and order to perform. A song may only be used twice; therefore, whatever number the sorority chooses potentially affects whether or not they can use the music they had hoped for.

“Our theme this year is ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and we will be performing fourth after Phi Mu, Alpha Xi Delta and Alpha Delta Pi,” said Broadus. “We’ve been working really hard and have increased our practices from two days a week to everyday this past week. But we’re so excited to get out there and represent Chi O and hopefully win again.”

After the 17 performances, while the judges are totaling the scores, Best Buddies, a non-profit organization which focuses on helping people with intellectual disabilities experience one-on-one friendships, from Lee County will be performing. Lastly, the awards will be given and the celebration will begin.



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