The fifth annual Campus Boogie event on Aug. 30 at the Ogle Center in Knobview served as the unofficial close for the campus-wide Week of Welcome.

Three cash prizes were up for grabs for the student groups who performed during the event.

A judge’s panel comprised of three faculty and staff members commented on each performance, with the final vote decided by audience ballets.

The house band for the evening was the River City Drum Core band. The Louisville-based percussion ensemble, comprised of sixth through twelfth graders, took the stage first and opened the event by getting the crowd excited causing a stir through the Ogle Center.

The young men on the snare drums rocked back and forth to the beat they were drilling out. The performers got the crowd involved by waving their sticks in the air and enticing the crowd into the show. The crowd danced, swayed and cheered back.

The theater was alive with excitement.

The sisters of Sigma Kappa performed next with a high energy routine. The performance incorporated  hip-hop style dance, animal-like crawling and even a touch of gymnastics.

The group choreographed a cart-wheel lift  by Olivia Joyce Fitchett, psychology sophomore, into the routine.

“We tried it in the backyard for a while,” Fitchett said. “We didn’t think it was going to work out, but we pulled it together. She decided to lift me a little more, and I jumped a little higher. It worked, and I think it looked good.”

The sisters of Alpha Phi were another group to perform. Their routine was a mixture of cheerleader-style choreography, flirtatious gesturing and girl-next-door cuteness.

After the girls of Alpha Phi received their comments from the judges, the IUS dance team came to stage, wearing camouflage pants, combat boots and black tank tops. Their sensual routine was highlighted by splits, flips and lifts.

The brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha also came out and performed a comedy-based and mostly improvised number.

Joe Voss, music business junior, was the center of the act, while the other members of the fraternity danced behind him, occasionally breaking line to help him out.

Voss played to the crowd with some smooth moves. Half way through the performance, he stripped off his shirt, and even made use of a broom and a chair, which he pulled out from behind the stage curtain.

Voss said the brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha quickly made up their routine right before the show.

“I was getting ready to go to class, and then I got a phone call,” Voss said. “I found out we were in a spot. We only got about 20 minutes to practice out in the foyer before, but we came out, and we put it together.”

Channell Barbour, associate director of Campus Life, took the stage after Pi Kappa Alpha’s performance and asked the audience to fill out the ballets being passed around with a vote for their favorite act of the three groups.

As the votes were being tallied, the River City Drum Core took the stage once more, keeping the audience energy high keeping the audience dancing in their seats to the performance.

Once the votes were counted all the performers were invited back to take the stage.

Barbour read out the results. The brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha received third place for their comedy-ridden routine, the sisters of Alpha Phi received second, making the sisters of Sigma Kappa the first place winners of the event. The sisters of Sigma Kappa erupted into cheers.

This was their first time winning the event.

“We’ve always come in the top three,” Kelsey Lynn Cooper, psychology sophomore, said, “but this is the first year we’ve won. We’re really excited about it. We took some risks, and they worked in our favor.”

Jeri Crawford, English junior, said the sisters met weeks before the semester to practice for the event.

“We had more than 10 practices over a few weeks span,” Crawford said. “It was a big group effort. We came up with everything together, and all the sisters had a lot of fun doing it.”

Each group that performed took home varying cash prizes for their participation.

“This year we upped the ante a little bit,” Kathy Meyer, coordinator of Leadership and Orientation Programs, said. “We felt like offering three cash prizes instead of one was more fair and would entice students to participate.”

Meyer said she hopes the event becomes a lasting tradition as a part of the Week of Welcome in the IUS campus.

By SAM WEBER

Staff

samweber@ius.edu