Kayla Janas

October 20, 2015

Theater/Dance Review
I was in a daze as my eyes shifted across the crowd filled with so many colors. It was like
an elementary students color palette before painting class where the student couldnt decide
which color they wanted so they chose them all. There were gobs of different hues and shades as
each sorority dressed in their respective philanthropy colors and crowded together. As soon as a
sorority stepped on stage, its like a switch was flipped. The members of the audience go from
sitting silently to jumping up so fast out of their seat you would think it was on fire. I was
convinced the goal of the night was for the sorority girls in the audience to be louder than the
music the girls on stage were performing to. I was drowning in spirit, and I thought it was
incredible.
Picture this: 17 sororities with roughly 200 active members each, with the majority of
each of those chapters all in attendance and crammed into the same room. Then add in the
handful of individuals like myself in the crowd who arent apart of the event itself. The Classic
Center at The University of Georgia holds around 2000 individuals; now imagine every single
one of those chairs filled. It seems a bit overwhelming, but it didnt stop hundreds of girls who
stepped out on stage the night of Oct. 14, 2015 to perform.
For the past 11 years, the SDTs Greek Grind hosted by Sigma Delta Tau has been the
largest philanthropy event at the University of Georgia. The experience of the show is put on by
17 sororities who have 15-30 girls volunteer to put on a choreographed dance performance.
These girls dance their hearts outs in front of a row of judges who are looking at stage presence,
entertainment value, costumes, precision, difficulty, and incorporations of this years event theme
rock and roll. Not only are these girls trying to win the dance competition, but throughout the
entire week of Oct. 14, sororities also competed in various activities to gain as many spirit points

as possible that factor in to the SDTs Greek Grinds final winner. All of the money made for this
event is donated to Sigma Delta Taus national philanthropy Prevent Child Abuse America.
The show opened with a performance by a group of boys that had you picking your jaw
up off the floor at the end of their performance and doubled over in pain from laughing so hard.
These boys shook their butts and shimmied their chests in a risqu manner that no boy should
ever do while dancing. Following this, the crowd stopped laughing long enough to be shocked as
Josh Murray, former star of The Bachelorette and older brother of the infamous UGA
quarterback Aaron Murray, walked out on stage to host this years event. As he began speaking,
heads turned in the audience and the hushed tone of whispering engaged as those unaware find
realization that he is the host.
The choreography each sorority did had people going in every direction. The group of
performers came together as one all wearing matching outfits that went with the songs they were
dancing to. My eyes were all over the stage while each girls body flowed from move to move. It
was like gymnastics, cheerleading, and step team all working to make one routine together. Each
routine was made in rhythm to the mash up of multiple songs the sorority picked. To have the
ability to search through songs and ingeniously pick some to make a routine to takes a lot of
talent and a group of very creative individuals. I could feel the beat of the bass vibrate through
my body as the music poured out of the speakers throughout each dance. Before I knew what I
was doing, I found myself moving around and tapping my food to the beat of each song. I looked
around hoping nobody witnessed my moves, but when I saw everyone around me not controlling
their own, I didnt care anymore.
The entertainment for this show is big, and I mean big. Every move a performer made
was exaggerated. Every song played through the speaker seemed to get a little louder every time.
Even every sorority cheering on their girls got more excited as the show went on. I found myself
confused at what I wanted to focus on more. Did I want to just pay attention to the brilliant girls

on stage dancing in sync never missing a beat to their chosen songs? Or did I want to tear my
eyes away from the stage and check out the apparent light show that must have been included in
my ticket price? The kaleidoscopic colors the lights put out drove away the darkness as each
performance started. I was mesmerized seeing the lights shine on the girls dancing and how they
go with the synchronization of each routine.
As the event came closer to finishing, the judges had to wrap it up. This years judges
included Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing at UGA John Bateman, Director of Dancefx
Athens Allison Hanes, Greek Life Graduate Assistant Rachel Rhodes, Panhellenic President
Ashley Merkel, former Atlanta Falcons cheerleader Nikki Mckenzie, trained gymnast Beth
Roberts, and Prevent Child Abuse Americas own President Jim Hmurovich. I think the judges
had the hardest job of the night because there was no sorority that did bad. Each team performed
creatively in their own way and not one bit of their talent went unnoticed.
Zeta Tau Alpha and Kappa Delta had extremely memorable dance routines as did Alpha
Omicron Pi with their song choices being ones that everyone in the audience knew and their
difficult dance moves that had you saying wow after. Each of their routines brought the entire
Classic Center alive and had everyone out of their seats. Hands were flying, voices were belting
lyrics, and lights were flashing in every direction as I watched the synchronization of these
sororitys performances be on point. When it was all said and done though, Kappa Kappa
Gamma deservedly took home the win with the most spirit points of the week and the best dance
performance of the night.
Feeling the music deep inside me as it played while I tried to take in the variety of lights
blinding peoples eyes made me feel like I was attending a concert rather than a dance
performance at times throughout SDTs Greek Grind. The audience surrounded me and danced
and sang to every song played during the night. WOW! Thank you so much to everyone who came
out to help us ROCK THE GRIND on Wednesday night! We were able to raise $89,000 for PCAA!! says

Sigma Delta Tau two days after the show happened. It was

incredible seeing such a large group of

people come together all with the same focus of raising money for Prevent Child Abuse America
in such a fun way.