Stepping Through History: National Panhellenic Council to Host Step Show for 2nd Consecutive Year

Article By: Ashely Bautista, Student Intern | BCS Chronicle

What You Need To Know:

• Organizations want the audience to get to know more about the Divine 9 and its history.

• Challenges for preparing for the step show include leveling up performances while also staying true to history and core values.

• The audience can expect fun, excitement, and historical messages throughout the performances.

STOMP. The wooden floor shakes and the sound of your foot echoes throughout the room like a tunnel when shouted into. 

CLAP. Hands crash together, burning like fire as the skin collides with one another in tremble. 

SHOUT. The voice moves, sending a fast and long trail from the diaphragm and out of a megaphone from your face – sharp and commanding. 

STOMP. CLAP. SHOUT. REPEAT. Repeat as the rhythm travels from the base of your foot to the crown of your hair that flicks in your head. Repeat, as the movements become a memory of riding a bike down the street of your home. Repeat until the sound transforms into a message of pride, joy, and power.

The National Panhellenic Council (NPHC), also known as the Divine 9, at Texas  A&M University, will be hosting their second annual Black History Month Step Show performance on February 28, 2026 at Rudder Theatre from 7 to 9 p.m. 

NPHC brought step show performances back to the A&M campus in 2025. According to NPHC President and Supply Chain Management senior, Broderick Lowe , NPHC wanted this year's step show to go further and beyond last year's show.

“For this year, we wanted more space for people to enjoy what our chapters bring to the table and really educate people on everything outside of social media and stereotypes of the D9 and for [D9] to showcase [their] skills as well." Lowe said

Rooted in Rhythm

Stepping is a high-energy, rhythmic art form in which African American fraternities and sororities use their bodies as instruments through footsteps, claps, and chants, according to Step Afrika. Strolling follows a similar practice, but uses music as the main instrument according to a Lindenlink student news article. 

“It's just our way of showcasing our different styles of dance and culture and what that means for us,” Lowe said

The Divine 9 organizations consist of nine fraternities and sororities in the years they were founded. Eight out of the nine organizations are active on the Texas A&M campus, and for this year's step show, six out of the eight will be performing, including Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, And Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Incorporated. 

Each one of these organizations has their roots in service, scholarships, and sisterhood or brotherhood. For IT Service Management senior and President of the Xi Psi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Kaiya Burden, she wants this year's step show to be an educational experience for people who have not attended and want to learn more about their organization and D9 overall. 

“I would say that making sure that we lay down the foundation of what our organization is about – our mission, our purpose, and what we were founded on,” Burden said. “Then the way to keep it new and refreshing is to talk about our chapter, so maybe how our chapter has impacted our campus, like, maybe what we're doing now."  

For Civil Engineering Senior and President of the Alpha Lambda Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, Daniel Ashley, it’s about looking within themselves for their reasoning of performing and going beyond the dance itself to portray their organization truthfully. 

“We genuinely want to make sure that we are paying proper respects to our founders in the organization when we put on this performance and ensuring that we take the steps necessary to ask questions that we may have, or even when we're doing the show correctly,” Ashley said. “Just thinking about why we (are) doing this, not just what we are doing, but how we (are) conveying this message properly to people who are in our organization.”

The Grind Before the Glory

With the success and outcome of the 2025 step show, the planning and preparation for this year's show has had its challenges. From booking venues weeks in advance, to discussing show times, to finalizing time, work and logistics to the step show, it has been a challenging process to prepare and finalize the step show.

“[The step show] was gone for so long, so now we're kind of redefining what a step show means for us and I thank God for the last executive board last year…there are some documents in place that are structured and, even with that, we're still making it different this year,” Lowe said. “So, the hard part and the easy part is there's not a structure to go off of, which the hard part is coming up with that stuff, but the easy part is we can define what a step show looks (like) for us as a council." 

Since this year's step show will be marked as a competition where all sororities and fraternities participating will compete against each other for a prize by five different Greek councils judges, competitors are having some challenges overall to improve themselves from last year. 

Public Health Senior and President of the Omicron Omega Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, Robyn Woodson, described the challenges of improving from last year's performance.

“[We are] taking routines that we've probably done already and just making it something different, something more advanced that A&M hasn't seen us do yet,” Woodson said.

For industrial engineering junior and step and stroll master of the Lambda Lambda Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Incorporated, Lauwenda Telcide, those challenges also include finding the comfortability and patience to ask for ideas.

“One of the challenges has been taking my patience and really taking a step back and making sure that everyone else is comfortable with certain pieces with the routines,” Telcide said. “Also, asking for help because it's really easy to think that it's all on you in terms of picking out the theme, picking out the routine, but again, you have fellow performers with you.”

Stepping for Something Bigger

For competitors in this year's step show, the performance goes beyond dance. From representation to self-improvement, to showcasing new members' talents, these competitors want what's best for them, their chapter, and the organization overall.

“As much as it's listed as a competition, it's more so a competition with ourselves and what we’re capable of, just as an organization,” Ashley said.

For Telcide, it also means showing pride for their chapter and organization.

“Its a beautiful thing just to see all the organizations do their thing, showcase their culture, their traditions,” Telcide said. “And I feel as if that's going to be the same for us just showing what Lambda Lambda brings.”

On Saturday, February 28th, the audience can expect everything from impactful lessons to rich history to fun and powerful energy from the performers.

“I don't even know what to expect, which is the exciting part,” Lowe said. “So I would say don't have something going into it like, you want to be surprised because [these] chapters spend hours and hours working on their performance, and you never know what they have up their sleeve.”