Getting In Touch With My Inner Black Man

Apparently it’s already mid-term week here at Duke…and I just thought I randomly had a lot of tests and papers. So, I decided to take a break from this “busy” schedule to speak about something that happened to me last night. Before a Thursday Improv performance, one of the sophomore (not sophomoric) guys in the group said that he couldn’t wait for Friday’s step show. He’s an Asian hip-hop dancer and said that the annual step show is amazing and a must-see. Now my fellow DUI members have become my “brothers” and I look to them for “advice.” So, I decided I’d check out the step show on Friday night at 8. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

I arrived at 8 to the show, which was being held in the largest auditorium on campus. Tickets were $10 but I figured it would be worth it. As I took my seat in the theater I began to realize that I was a bit out of place. I hadn’t noticed until I opened the program that the step show was put on by all the black fraternities on campus. I looked around a saw I was 1 of only 3 white guys in attendance. I sat next to a guy from my dorm floor that said he was only there because he was expected to “represent.” Oy!

A DJ at the front played loud, hip-hop music and the crowd was dancing in their seats (like at Mama Mia!), oblivious to the fact that the show was already starting. The “hosts” came out and said some stuff that was incomprehensible to me but the audience seemed to understand because they laughed and shouted back more incomprehensible noise. Not to be racist, but it was like the Vibe Awards crossed with Showtime at the Apollo. I thought that I might just sneak out but I did pay a “hefty” $10.

The show began and I was glad I stayed. “Stepping,” for all of you white-Jews reading this, is like Stomp but without the household objects. It’s basically rhythmic dancing mixed with fraternity/sorority cheers. They danced to Jay-Z, Outkast, Beyonce and James Blunt…just kidding, they didn’t play Jay-Z. It was fun, enlightening and ultimately very entertaining. So, the moral of the story is if there is a step show at your campus, go…but be sure to go with a big group of Caucasian friends. And finally, as the audience at the step show might say, “UNC wack balls, beeotch. Slap mah fro!”