The Review

Issue date: 5/13/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Ricky Berl Sororities and fraternities at the university practice months in advance for the Airband competition.

Media Credit: Ricky Berl A scene from this year's Airband.

Members of the Sigma Kappa sorority started dancing at 6 a.m. every morning for a week to practice for their six minute-long performance, according to member Tanya Sandler, a junior. The sorority members practiced their routine for four hours per day prior to their exhibition at Airband, a dancing and lip-syncing contest that was part of the university's Greek Week.

Besides 6-to-8 a.m. practices, most of which took place in parking lots, members of Sigma Kappa practiced from 9 to 11 p.m. throughout the week prior to the show, Sandler said. For approximately a month prior to Airband, members practiced for two hours per day in Perkins Student Center.

Matt Lenno, assistant director of Greek Life, said most fraternities and sororities wake up early and practice in various areas throughout campus to get ready for Airband.

"Months and months and months of practice," Lenno said. "Three times per week for the women."

Sandler said all of the dance practicing can be hard, but in the end, the results are worth the effort. Sigma Kappa was the winning sorority at Airband with its "Cinderella" theme.

"It's stressful and it's really, really time consuming, and we got really tired," Sandler said. "But it's worth it."

Junior Barney Fortunato, president of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, the winning fraternity of Airband with its "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme, said Greek members put so much effort into Airband because they enjoy the pride of winning.

"It's kind of a status thing to have won Airband," Fortunato said. "It feels good to win these kinds of competitions."

He said his fraternity's members practiced for approximately two hours per day in the week prior to their performance at Airband.

"The fraternities don't practice as much as the sororities," Fortunato said. "We were practicing several hours per week, two to three hours at a time."

When members of his Pi Kappa Phi fraternity had other commitments during practice times, it was not a problem, he said.

"In general, there were so many practices, if people missed one or two because they had a test the next day or a paper the next day, it was OK," Fortunato said.

Junior Carly Bergstein, president of Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority, said members of her sorority practiced for a month leading up to Airband. She said several weeks ago, the members would practice two or three hours per day.

The week before the performance, members would practice six to eight hours per day, usually starting practice at 6 a.m. and then practicing again for several hours again in the afternoon, Bergstein said.

She said Alpha Epsilon Phi has Airband chairs who choreographed the sorority's dance, which was based on the '90s Dream Phone board game. Members devoted much of their time not just to practice the dance, but also to create the backdrop and a very large replica of a phone, she said.

"We have a banner that kind of represents the board game," Bergstein said. "It took weeks to put together. It's pretty big."

Lenno said most fraternities and sororities create a team of people to participate in Airband since the 36 feet by 50 feet stage at the Bob Carpenter Center cannot hold a very large number of students.

Since Airband's conception at the university in the mid-'90s, the show has featured a wide variety of music from rock, rap, country, jazz, dance, Broadway tunes and songs from the '70s, he said.

Lenno said fraternities and sororities accumulate points for winning various events, including Airband, throughout Greek Week. The fraternity and the sorority that earn the most points receive a three-foot-long trophy for their efforts.

"It's pride, it's chapter bonding, it's bragging rights, but really physically all they get is a trophy," he said. "It's like winning the Super Bowl and getting that prize at the end."

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