Audience members sang along as nine members of Iota Phi Theta wore vests and combat boots and danced to “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift at the 21st annual Florida Invitational Step Show.
Iota Phi Theta was the winning fraternity step team, and Sigma Gamma Rho won first place for sororities at the competition Saturday night in the O’Connell Center.
Kappa Alpha Psi placed second place for the fraternities and Zeta Phi Beta placed second for the sororities.
The nine judges were former members of participating sororities and fraternities.
Letticia Etti, an industrial engineering sophomore, said she was impressed with Iota Phi Theta’s performance, which included a parody of the “Bad Boys” movies and about four dances.
“Iota was real creative,” Etti said. “They show their pride, and it was well put together.”
Pop culture references were a popular trend, but the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity team chose the theme of working on a plantation instead.
The members came out in tattered clothes, and their “master,” wearing white face-paint, kept trying to stop them from dancing.
Etti, an audience member, said having the performer wear white face paint was a bold move, but adding the segment was a controversial decision.
She said she thought people would be offended by it.
The Sigma Gamma Rho step team called themselves “Sigmatars” and twirled blue and gold canes while doing acrobatics.
Other performances also featured parodies of movies and shows.
The Omega Psi Phi fraternity’s team opened their performance with a parody of ESPN. They conducted a mock interview with Tiger Woods and asked him about his infidelities.
The dancers wore gold boots with purple laces while dancing drills around orange cones.
Curtis Pugh, a member of Omega Psi Phi, said the team practiced every night of the week before the performance.
“They are very dedicated,” Pugh said. “It is going to be precise.”
The show, part of Black History Month, was hosted by Fonzworth Bentley, from the MTV series “From G’s to Gents.”
The Atlanta native said he enjoyed being in Gainesville, and the crowd erupted into the university's signature Gator chomp.
“I do have a strong affinity for my dirty South brothers and sisters,” Bentley said.
