Pi Kappa Alpha is crowned Utah State University step show champions for the second time

By Braden Clark

Friday night Pi Kappa Alpha, at Utah State University, was crowned the Utah State step show champions for the second time in a row.

“We trained for nearly two months, it seems, on our routine,” said Dontre Manual, a member of Pi Kappa Alpha. “It’s one of my favorite events all year here at Utah State, and my brothers and I get really focused on this competition. We expect to win every year, but every year the competition gets more difficult. Regardless, this is for a good cause and I’m always willing to help out and donate my time to philanthropy.”

Many groups from the university, and some from the University of Utah, competed in the event Friday night. With a red carpet theme each of the competitors were asked to make each performance based off popular movies. The night was kicked off by the Polynesian Student Union, who performed a Polynesian focused step routine.

“One of my favorite parts of this event is seeing all the different cultures, and creative minds from all the students,” said TJ Pratt, a Utah State alumni who hosted the event. “When I did this when I was here it was pretty exciting, but it’s come so far from then and I’m excited what the future holds for this event.”

Many movies were referenced such as Rocky, Creed, Magic Mike XXL, Slumdog Millionaire and Sandlot. Pi Kappa Alpha won the night with a tribute to Leonardo DiCaprio, and his Best Actor victory, where they performed a serious of scenes from his popular movies.

“Leo is in right now, and we thought that this was a great idea for our step performance,” Manual said.

USU’s step show went through a change last year where they made it a competition between participating groups. Theta Nu Xi and Psi Sigma Phi, the hosting multicultural sorority and fraternity, have been setting up this event for the students at USU since 2000.

“It seems like it grows every year, and I hope one day that the ballroom isn’t big enough for this event, and we can move it to the performance hall on the west side of campus,” said Kaly Mayombe, the president of Theta Nu Xi.