Music and cheers filled the Diag last Friday evening as the University of Michigan chapter of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity presented the eighth-annual Multicultural Yard Show — a showcase of traditional dances by Fraternity & Sorority Life organizations within the Multicultural Greek Council.
More than 100 people gathered around the steps of the Hatcher Graduate Library as members of six different multicultural sororities and fraternities performed, each bringing their own rhythms and dances to celebrate unity and heritage within the U-M FSL community.
Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority opened the evening with a coordinated salute and stroll, their movements and chants drawing loud applause from the crowd. Saluting, a tradition unique to Lambda Theta Alpha sorority, serves as an organized dance to convey honor, praise and the sorority’s history. They also incorporated strolling, an organized dance usually performed in a line, representing unity and identity. Strolling has long been a hallmark of Black culture before it was later embraced and reinterpreted by multicultural organizations across the United States.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA senior Briana Gonzalez, a member of Lambda Theta Alpha and performer in this year’s show, said incorporating the meaning and history of the sorority’s traditional salute along with different strolls from other chapters in her sorority was her favorite part of the performance.
“My favorite part was saluting, because that is something that is unique to our sorority,” Gonzalez said. “And also learning all of the different strolls, because we try different strolls from different chapters in the country of our sorority and incorporated that into this year’s show.”
Kinesiology junior Daniel Chavez, the event’s stroll master, told The Daily the show gives multicultural organizations a chance to be visible and celebrated on campus.
“In my perspective, I think it is important to bring people together and have a community, especially when we are multicultural,” Chavez said. “We don’t have as many people within our chapters, and so it is important for us to still get spotlight and take up space on campus. And I feel like this is a very good way of doing that.”
Delta Tau Lambda Sorority was next to perform, blending movements and chants that were meant to reflect their mission of strengthening Latinas’ position in society through community service and leadership. Kappa Phi Lambda Sorority, an Asian-interest sorority, followed with a routine aimed to emphasize cultural diversity and academic excellence.
The show continued with performances from Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority and Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority before closing with the hosts, Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity. The event ended with a dynamic routine as different Multicultural Greek Council organizations joined in dance together.
While the performances themselves took center stage, the event also highlighted the historical roots of multicultural Greek life. Many of the shows’ traditions trace their origins back to the Divine Nine— the nine historically Black fraternities and sororities that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
LSA junior Bel Par, a member of Alpha Kappa Delta Phi and an attendee of Yard Show, told The Daily the event reflected how the tradition of the Divine Nine has continued to shape the Multicultural Greek Council community.
“It is so fun to see how D-nine affects MGC because they’re the founders who started MGC, and without the D-nine and all of the Black fraternities and sororities across the nation and on campus today, we would not have so much of our MGC culture,” Par said. “Strolling comes from D-nine as well. So when we stroll, so much of it ties back to the Black origins.”
In an interview with The Daily, Engineering senior Richard Leon, president of the U-M chapter of Sigma Lambda Beta, said the fraternity hopes to use events like the Yard Show to strengthen ties across organizations and highlight multicultural life on campus.
“One of our main goals is to bring people together, bring the communities together,” Leon said. “A lot of these organizations lean on each other to create special events, but also make an impact within the community.”
LSA freshman Karina Garcia, another audience member, told The Daily she was moved by the cultural expression and community spirit of the performances.
“As someone who is Latina, I just wanted to support the community because it is very small here,” Garcia said. “It’s fascinating to see the effort that they put in because I know they take months to learn the dances. And it’s very cultural, some of them are the first sororities by Latinas. So I just love seeing everyone coming together.”
Daily Staff Reporter Zooey Raux can be reached at zraux@umich.edu.
