The night was full of Kodak moments Thursday as fraternities and sororities danced in a Battle for the Best Picture-themed Greek Week Unity Stroll.
This year’s Greek Week also included lipsync, outdoor sports and movie poster competitions and the movies assigned to each set of two fraternities and two sororities were “The Avengers,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Top Gun,” “The Sandlot,” “Caddyshack,” “Grease,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Toy Story.”
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When creating dances for the Unity Stroll, participants were careful to avoid certain prohibited moves and were required to preform their dances for the Greek Week Planning Committee before the event.
“We give them training on what they should do and what they shouldn’t do (during Greek Week),” said Julia Miranda, vice president of Greek Council Affairs. “And with the stroll particularly, we show them a video on the history of strolling just so that they could understand why sometimes we’re strict on the moves.”
Although each group was likely inspired by their assigned movie, Miranda said that participants were free to create any dance and use any music they wished.
“Basically, we let them show their creativity with their dances — the teams come together and they make a whole dance from scratch with the music,” Miranda said. “Part of the point breakdown is for entertainment — it has to be entertaining — so a lot of the teams have been using songs that are popular today, and some teams also incorporated songs that came from the movie that they were assigned.”
Each assigned group of fraternities and sororities practiced together for weeks to learn their sequence of dances for the event.
“We started with just learning dance after dance after dance, because we have five dances, and then we learned to piece them together, and then we just cleaned and went through them for the last two weeks,” said Jordan Brewer, senior business major and member of Kappa Delta. “This is the time that we actually get to mingle with the fraternities and the other sororities that we’re always paired with, and it’s always a really great time to just spend nights with each other.”
Although it is structured as a competition to win points toward the overall Greek Week competition, many participants’ favorite part of the event is the opportunity to spend time with other members of CSU fraternity and sorority life.
“I think it’s a lot of fun — it gives us all an opportunity to interact with people from other organizations,” said Nate Walker, sophomore political science major and member of Phi Kappa Tau. “I’ve met a lot of people from other groups, and I think it’s a lot of fun.”
Establishing a sense of community was an important goal when creating the stroll, according to Miranda.
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“Strolls were created as a sign of unity,” Miranda said. “The stroll (shows) the strength of an organization.”
Braden Wilson, senior hospitality management major and Farmhouse Fraternity member, was dressed in red, white and blue with a bandana and eye black to represent “Top Gun,” his fraternity’s assigned movie.
“We’ve been practicing at our house for the last couple of week from around 9 until 12, and we’re really excited to get out here and stroll,” Wilson said. “Today, we’re kind of just going out there are having fun.”
Collegian Reporter Ellie Mulder can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @lemarie.