It’s the moment before the performance starts: thoughts slow down, heart beats speed up and muscles prepare to execute movements from memory. Focus is vital and confidence is key.
For University of Idaho sophomore Marielena Vega, it’s the connection between performers that makes the dances performed by multicultural sororities and fraternities special.
The multicultural Greek groups are the only organizations at UI to perform stepping, strolling and saluting — variations of dance originally derived from African-American fraternities and sororities.
Historic African-American sororities and fraternities, known sometimes as the Divine Nine, are credited with developing the rhythmic series of clapping, stepping and stomping that have evolved into stepping, strolling and saluting. Stepping is an acoustic mixture of clapping, stomping and spoken word to produce a percussive dance, while strolling is a synchronized dance set to music. Saluting is reflective of a military salute, but it maintains the same rhythm, discipline and culture of strolling and stepping.
Amelia C. Warden | Blot
Vega is a first-year member of the Gamma Alpha Omega Sorority at UI. Like other multicultural Greek groups, the sorority is small and currently has three active members.
Yet, the sorority has a rich, Latina-based background and a close connection between members, Vega said. The six UI multicultural fraternities and sororities share this culture and connection, just as they share the tradition of distinctive dances that reflect these ideals, Vega said.
It was this acceptance for diversity that prompted Vega to join a multicultural sorority.
“I wanted a support group,” Vega said. “I also wanted to have a support group who accepted me for who I was and wasn’t a cookie-cutter group.”
Vega, who is studying International Studies and Spanish along with Political Science, felt welcomed into the multicultural community of Gamma Alpha Omega and into their group performances.
The sorority has participated in performances on campus and throughout the western U.S., including competitions in California and Nevada. As a first-year member, Vega has only participated in the sorority’s Founder’s Day celebration, but has already invested many hours of practice for future performances.
“For me, it’s a learning experience,” Vega said. “I’m learning new things every day, and it takes a lot of discipline.”
Gamma Alpha Omega practices anywhere from one to three hours per day in the weeks before performances and competitions. This amount of practice is comparable to other multicultural groups, all of whom require each group member’s movements to be in sync, Vega said.
Throughout the multicultural fraternities and sororities, members aren’t required to take part in dances or competition, but the majority of multicultural Greeks choose to join their respective stroll, step or salute teams, said Alex Ortiz, a sophomore studying Psychology and Sociology.
Vega said performances are opportunities to showcase what each fraternity and sorority stands for, and their ability to express themselves.
“The pillars of our sorority are honesty, charity, scholarship and unity,” Vega said. “These performances are a chance for us to show our pride and to show our focus. They’re prideful events that are full of energy.”
This pride extends to saluting as well. Ortiz is the president of Lambda Theta Phi, a multicultural fraternity focused on saluting rather than strolling and stepping. Though influenced by the military, Ortiz said saluting equally depends on energy and expression.
“I like to describe it as poetry in motion,” Ortiz said. “When we salute, we keep that intensity in ourselves and how we salute … we kind of want to be serious and make an impact.”
Like other multicultural step and stroll groups, Lambda Theta Phi puts in hours of practice every day before a performance.
Yet, unlike the other groups, Ortiz said Lambda Theta Phi is the only multicultural fraternity in the nation to salute, a tradition passed down for the last 40 years from the fraternity’s founding fathers. For Ortiz, the tradition is the important part in performing.
“Each fraternity and sorority has something that we do,” he said. “I know we express our culture in different ways, but with each one there is a sense of unity in expressing our pride and values.”
Ortiz said his fraternity is founded on the values of pride, unity, respect, brotherhood and culture — values that he believes are reflected in the salutes, steps and strolls of multicultural fraternities and sororities.
Both Ortiz and Vega agreed that community is a vital aspect of the multicultural Greek system at UI. They said community binds members within groups, connects various fraternities and sororities and still invites others to learn more about these diverse cultures.
“I just feel like it offers a different perspective,” Vega said. “Within the multicultural community, you can approach anyone and they’re friendly and supportive. At performances, we’re all there to support one another and connect with each other despite our differences.”