“This will be the best, the wildest, the loudest step show you all have ever seen,” announced Miami DJ Stitches, who emceed the 2016 Sunshine State Classic Step Show on Florida Atlantic’s Boca Raton campus.

The show is a competition between fraternity and sorority step groups, and this year’s performances were accompanied by music videos featuring each of the competing groups.

Before the competitors set foot on stage, the audience was given close to an hour’s worth of entertainment. After an introductory prayer, a slew of students sang FAU’s alma mater, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

“I’m excited to see the show,” Palm Beach Atlantic graduate Laura Geisler said. “It’s a different culture than I’m used to.”

The performances began when a detention-themed step dance engaged the crowd with a mixture of humor and cheer-evoking dance moves.

At some points, the emcee had the DJ replay a song after the crowd started to dance and sing along.

Members from the Greek-life bleacher sections stood up and danced, causing DJ Stitches to then challenge the groups to send someone “who can do it right” to dance to the song.

As Stitches cheered the groups on from the stage, a dance train was formed that traveled through the front isles of the audience.

After everyone settled down into their seats, the event intro video played and the show began.

The fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, was the first to compete. Its group name was “The Owtakes.”

The group’s performance was preluded by a reality-TV-esque video in which the members roasted each other while each claimed to be the “most important member of the [step] group.”

“This isn’t my first [step] show,” said Jasmine Carter, who works for Contemporary Service Corporation, an organization that offers event security and crowd management services. “But the performances were fun to watch, especially with all the video stuff.”

The theme of this year’s show was “Music Videos.” Each of the greek step groups were required to record and include a music video performed by group members.

“The [music] videos were cool,” Carter said. “They really helped to break up the show.”

The winner’s trophy went to Alpha Phi Alpha, though all of the groups were congratulated for their skills and participation.

Stitches ended the show saying, “I hope this show was the best you’ve ever seen, the best you’ve ever attended.”

Tucker Berardi is a staff writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @tucker_berardi.