NPHC Yard Show | Photo by Caitlin Shatsby | The Wright State Guardian
On Sept. 28, NPHC (National Panhellenic Council) students and Wright State University (WSU) alumni stepped and strolled at the Yard Show to tell a story about their history, who they are and what they represent.
Strolling and stepping
Stepping and strolling have existed for centuries, going back to the 1700 and 1800s.
“It goes back to slavery time with our history. Our ancestors step, chant and sing and that was passed down to our sacred perspective chapters and organizations,” NPHC Vice President Dai’Shanae Moore said.
According to “From Death Marches to Dance Halls: A Brief History of Strolling,” strolling can also be traced to the historically black Greek letter organizations’ ritual ceremony called the Death March. They define strolling as the final activity for the BT Yellow pledge process where pledges would march around campus reciting poems and singing.
Over time, each NPHC sorority and fraternity’s strolling and stepping evolved, with each organization forming its own unique signature. However, the distinction between the two can sometimes still be confused.
“The difference between stepping and strolling is stepping is more you all making your own beats and incorporating your history. In strolling it’s really more your individual chapters doing something together as one that is also fun,” Moore said.
Yard show
WSU’s Divine Nine, the nine historically Black Greek letter organizations, strolled on Sept. 28 to educate WSU about their history and values.
Although there are nine historically Black Greek letter organizations, WSU only has five Divine Nine fraternities and sororities. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.
Announced by emcee Brittany Neal, each performed and showed off their members’ talent and dedication. In the middle of a packed Student Union, NPHC members combined strolling, music and dialogue to educate the audience about their individual organizations.
For some organizations, alumni came to perform as well.
“One of the things that I was really happy to see was that alumni came to support and perform because they’re always there and I feel like it was really cool,” student Alyana Barrera said.
A few performances included props such as canes and handkerchiefs while in others, NPHC members interacted with the audience by handing out roses.
The entire time, each fraternity and sorority was able to share their organization’s history and values.
“It was great to learn about [the NPHC orgs] and understand more about where their sorority came from and fraternity,” student Danielle Dargan said.
