On Wednesday, September 28, 2016 the Black Student Union held their the first annual Knuck If You Buck Stroll Off. A stroll off, which is a common practice amongst African-American communities, is a type of dancing completion. The dancing incorporates high energy stepping movements. The event was hosted by Barmel Lyons and Fabian Rene.
To quick start the evening, the panel of eight judges were introduced. Some of the judges were UCF alums and all of them are part of an BSU and Greek life. After the judges were presented, each of the six sororities and fraternities did an introduction dance as the name of their organization was called.
The Chairs of the event were Simone Harris(Black Student Union’s Culture & Awareness Chair, James Hosey(Black Student Union’s Educational and Enrichment Chair), Tyderian Cocroft( Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and NPHC Week Chair). With supervisions of Ruth Estimable (Black Student Union’s President and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.), Ashleigh Rivera (NPHC President and member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.) and Anthony Smith (NPHC VP, and member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.)
The host then announced the theme of the first round: Favorite TV shows. The lovely host, Barmel stated that the popular 90s show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” was her favorite show. Moving forward, the 90s seemed to be the era of choice for the performers.
The first performance was by the fraternity “Alpha Phi Alpha”. They incorporated a dance number using elements of “Yugioh,” “All That,” “Rugrats,” “Wayans Brothers,” and “Kenan and Kel”. The entire crowd seemed to be thrilled with nostalgia.
The following organization was the pink and green sorority “Alpha Kappa Alpha”. These ladies had a similar perspective as the previous guys. They incorporated elements of “All That” in their strolling. Correspondingly, they used the theme song of the show “Living Single” for their dance.
The next group was the fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi. They dressed in accordance to their theme, with “nerd glasses” and suspenders to resemble Steve Urkel from “Family Matters.” They didn’t stop there. They strolled to a hip-hop remix and made a grand finale by throwing cash in the air.
Afterwards, the crimson ladies of “Delta Sigma Theta” sorority made their way. Similar to the AKA’s they strutted to “All That” and “Living Single”. However, the crowd pleasing medley was not complete until the theme song of “Sister, Sister” came on.
Proceeding the Deltas, were the fraternity “Phi Beta Sigma”. They channeled “Pokémon” and “The Fairly Odd Parents with a rap song called “Timmy Turner”.
Last but not least, the first round ended with the ladies of “Zeta Phi Beta”. They included the Kim Possible theme song as well as a nod to the Disney animated mega blockbuster “Frozen” with the song “Let It Go.”
The second round became a lot more sensual with the theme R&B. The order of the performances was the same, thus Alpha Phi Beta began with the song “B.E.D.” by Jaquees. They followed it up with another slow jam. The women of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority also strolled to “B.E.D.”
Subsequently, the men of Kappa Alpha Psi expressed their creativity by using an aluminum prop to walk under and make their entrance. They performed to D.J. Drama’s “Wishing” as well as a reggae R&B song.
Later, the women of Delta Sigma Theta gave a nod to the legendary female girls group “TLC” with songs such as “Baby, Baby, Baby,” “Red Light Special,” “Creep” and “Diggin On You.”
Moving forward, the next group “Phi Beta Sigma” took a very sensual yet comical turn by performing to Trey Songz “Panty Droppa” while throwing up women’s underwear as a prop.
Finally, “Zeta Phi Beta” used the projector screen to demonstrate a weather forecast of rain while they performed to a song with the famous lines “All these raindrops falling on my window”.
The last round was a free style round in which all of the performers strolled to songs without themes. During this round, one of the most distinguishable organizations that performed was “Kapa Alpha Psi”. They dressed with bandanas tied around their mouths and one black glove. The song that they strolled to referenced O.J. Simpson. At the end of their performance, the crowd became hysterical as the men took off their shirts.
The sorority that won fan favorite was “Alpha Kappa Alpha”. Next, the sorority that won first place was “Delta Sigma Theta”. Moving on to the fraternities, the first place prize was awarded to “Kappa Alpha Psi”. However, in the end, “Delta Sigma Theta” won overall.
This event was a phenomenal way to showcase the talent and community of black Greek life at UCF. Being the first annual stroll off, the participation and presentation was stellar.
