As early as 6 p.m., eager students began to line up outside hoping for a chance to get a seat in the ballroom which was soon packed to capacity.
And, after an hour and a half, the women of Chi Omega and men of Beta Theta Pi took home the trophy for best dance number at the Spurs and Struts dance competition Tuesday night.
The competition included choreographed dance routines from USC fraternities and sororities who were competing in pairs.
The routines combined pieces from multiple songs and lasted around five minutes each. Each performing group was comprised of an equal number of members from one fraternity and one sorority who created a choreographed dance number to be performed on stage.
The event was supposed to have been held on Greene Street in front of Russell House but an 80 percent chance of rain and a tornado watch forced the event into the Russell House Ballroom.
The event became exclusive when an event organizer using a megaphone announced at the doors that the Ballroom had reached its 900-person capacity and that everyone else would have to wait outside or leave.
At 8 p.m., the competition began.
It was an event that had been in the works for months.
“We have been practicing for like two hours every day of the month,” second-year public health student and a homecoming chair for Tri Delta Ericka Beane said.
Surrounding her were performing members from several other sororities and fraternities applying last minute makeup and waiting for their turn on the stage.
“We all submit forms and stuff right when school starts and then we got elected to be chairs probably about a month and a half ago so ever since then we’ve been doing stuff like every week,” Beane said.
Onstage, performers dressed to match a carnival theme danced to blaring music that shook the floor with each beat and left to the sound of raucous cheering from the crowd.
“This is probably one of the most anticipated events that’s planned out just because it’s choreographed,” Faith Moran, second-year nursing student and a homecoming chair for Tri Delta said.
When the winner was announced, the performing members from Chi Omega and Beta Theta Pi jumped to the stage to claim their reward.
“Our team put in a lot of effort and we want to extend congratulations to all the other teams. We are so happy that we won,” first-year business student and Beta Theta Pi member Jimmy Sims said while hugging the other members of his team shortly after being declared winners.
For the performers, the Spurs and Struts competition is about more than trophies.
“This was just the best experience of my life getting to be so close to everyone,” first-year criminology major Whitney Singleton of Chi Omega said.
“We have a lot of new members dancing and I think it’s the same way with the boys so they all get to meet a lot of new people,” Beane said. “It’s a cool way to bring together Greek life.”