Linda Looney- YouTube, Aug 12, 2010
Howard University, Greek Show, 1987
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Linda Looney- YouTube, Aug 12, 2010
Howard University, Greek Show, 1987
****
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases two two YouTube videos of a 1987 step show performance of members of
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA) at Howard University, Washington, D.C .
Selected comments from the discussion threads for Video #1 in this post are also included in these posts. I've added some explanatory notes under some of these comments.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
Particular attention is given to comments that refer to
differences between step show performances then and step show performances in
the 2000s.
Thanks to all those who are featured in this video and
thanks to the person who filmed this video. Thanks also to all those who are
quoted in this post, and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
Happy 113th Founders’ Day to all members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was founded on January
15, 1908 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. and is the first Greek-lettered
organization that was established for Black college women.
Click the tags found below for more pancocojams posts about
historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities.
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR VIDEO #1
These comments are given in relative chronological order
based on their publishing date with the oldest comments given first, except for
replies.
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
Explanatory notes
have been added below a few of these
comments.
"The Sorority shout out was the best part of these vids
for me... Very different from what i see today"
2. SOUL KEATO, 2010
"
-snip-
In the context of this video, a "ripple" is a arm movement that is started at one end of a (usually vertical) line and is then performed rapidly by each person in the line so that it appears like a ripple of water (or a wave in the water).
The ripples in this video begins around 5:39 and continues to around 5:59.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/01/floor-roll-floor-ripples-in-videos-of.html for a closely related pancoocojams post entitled "Floor Rolls (Floor Ripples) In Videos Of A 1987 / 1988 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Step Show, The 1988 Movie School Daze, & A 2010 VSU Woo Woo Stomp & Shake Performance"
**
3. t goodwill, 2011
"coming from a Zeta, that was SOOOO classy!!! damn so
much has changed! LOVE the Sorority shout out! #D9love"
-snip-
"Zeta" = Zeta Phi Beta, Sorority, Inc., a member of the Pan Hellenic Council (which is informally known as "the Divine
Nine").
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pan-Hellenic_Council :
"The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a
collaborative umbrella organization composed of historically African American
Greek-lettered fraternities and sororities. The nine NPHC organizations are
sometimes collectively referred to as the "Divine Nine (D9)". The
member/partner organizations have not formally adopted nor recommended the use
of this term to describe their collaborative grouping."...
Also, click http://www.blackgreek.com/divinenine/ for a list of
all the historically Greek organizations that are members of the Divine Nine.
**
4. ninjapoodle22, 2011
"Sistergreeks, this was wonderful! Much respect to you Alpha Chapter of 87'! Very Classy!
Sisterly,
Fran
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.!"
-snip-
Sigma Gamma Rho Inc. is a historically Black Greek letter sorority. Its mascot is a poodle, hence the commenter's screen name "ninjapoodle22". "22" is probably her line number (her number in the group of women when she was pledging i.e. joining that chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho.
**
5. star23j, 2011
"Amazing! I love the greek love displayed in this
Video. What a way to send a message of how important it is to love and respect
each other. All of the sororities and fraternities were made to serve, help, and
better the lives of those in their communities. It's important to keep that
focus and not get side tracked."
6. neph2012, 2011
"YES!!!this how AKA's should step with class!not all sloppy like they do now"
**
7.Dominique Bougard, 2011
"I love to see old school probates! This was beautiful! Wonderful job Sorors!"
-snip-
A "probate" is a public presentation of new members of a specific chapter of a Greek letter organization. The new members present some of that organization's history and step and stroll.
**
8. Stella Duro, 2011
"They look FLLLLYYYY !!!"
-snip-
"Fly" = 1960s African American Vernacular English word meaning "sharp", "stylish", "beautiful", up to date with the latest fashions
9. AKAhoneydip1908, 2012
"Wow, absolutely AMAZING!!! @LJBNews, Thank you so much for posting! I so love the sorority shout outs. You NEVER see such things now. Sorors you were/are classy, sophisticated and beautiful. I miss old school shows like this one. Great job Sorors! SKEEEEEEE WEEEEE!"
-snip-
The sorority's "shout outs" here means "recognitions of [some] other members of the National Pan Hellenic Council (also known as "the Divine Nine"). In this video a shout out was done by replicating the way the particular fraternity being highlighted steps and one of that organization's familiar chants.
"Skeeeee Weeeeee" is Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority's (unofficial) signature call.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/black-fraternity-sorority-calls.html for a pancocojams post about Black Greek Letter Organizations' (BGLOs) calls.
**
10. Earl Jr., 2012
"I attend and HBCU with the all orgs from the nphc are active, and i've never seen greek unity like what was displayed here on 6:15 to 6:40"
**
11. LaShonda CORDER aka Wizdom, 2013
"This is a serious matter!!!! I love the "All black
greeks are sisters at heart, we should all stick together and not pull apart!!!
Skeeeee Weeeeee!!!!! I love my sorors!!!!!"
-snip-
"This is a serious matter" is the title of a very
well known Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. chant.
**
12. Khei Burroughs-Kirkland, 2013
"that ripple was hot.. where they do that at now???????
**
13. Raw Talent TV, 2014
"whats the name of the instrumental they're coming out to?"
14. M. Wilson, 2018
"Moments in Love by Art of Noise. Byron Brown. I know
I'm late but I didn't see a response to your question."
15. Carolyn Lay, 2015
"This was great! So different from my greek show as a pledgee of AKA in 1970 at Fisk University. Go AKA !!!"
**
16. Keisha Dobie, 2016
"Maybe I'm in a time warp, but I still believe that is how a step show should be performed. Crisp, clean, and classy!!"
**
17. Lisa Marie, 2016
"That ripple in a ripple ... perfection."
**
18. Cj Will, 2016
"Great old school show Pham!
**
Reply
19. Linda Looney - YouTube, 2016
"This is AKA territory! Thanks :)"
-snip-
The spelling of the word "Pham" (short for the word "family" and the words "phrist pham" ("first fam") highlight the letters "ph". Those terms are used by members of Alpha Phi Alpha Inc, the first historically Black Greek letter fraternity and members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first historically Black Greek letter sorority. Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha are informally considered to be brother and sister organization.
**
20. John -Ira Hull, 2017
"That entrances was everything! The AKA has a style of there
own and can't be duplicated."
**
21. BeautifulDiva1913, 2017
"The absolute BEST thing about this step show was that they
didn't diss! Love that! Praying these ladies are still blessed
today!!!
Sincerely,
Your Fellow HU Alum &
Fellow BGLO sister from DST"
-snip-
diss= insult, throw shade [at the other BGLOS]
HU Alum= Howard University Alumni
BGLO - Black Greek Letter Organizations
DST = [the historically Black Greek letter sorority] Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
**
22. Lisa Marie, 2017
"That ripple is EVERY. SINGLE. THING!! Work it out
Sorors!! :-)"
**
23. Richie Hughes, 2017
"Linda Looney Bond I subscribed to you page! I love
seeing the golden days. There was more class and elegance then. The AKAs of
today do exemplify that, but we seemed more adult in our time. I crossed in
1995, APhiA"
-snip-
"APhiA" = Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
The word "crossed" in the sentence "I crossed in 1995" refers to "crossing the burning sands". That term means that means that a person has officially becoming a member of that particular historically Black Greek letter organization.
**
24. anydavis1, 2018
"MaryDILF thanks for the compliment. I am front of the line on the right and want to let you know that nearly 30 years later our line has done quite well. We are blessed to have doctors, lawyers, corporate execs, journalists, professors and entrepreneurs among us just to name a few. For those that inquired, we did indeed "WIN" the show that year and reclaimed the step show trophy for Alpha Chapter after many years of defeat. Sorority membership is a life long commitment and many of us are active throughout the country still serving our precious AKA and mentoring our younger Sorors."
**
25. Angie Butler, 2019
"Yes. This is how we did it back in the day. As soon as I saw
this video, it brought back memories of me and my AKA Sorors at the University
of Washington (Seattle) performing at the Step Shows. 😊💗💚"
-snip-
Pink and green are the signature colors for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
**
26. konvincedn06, 2019
"This is timeless! Job well done ladies.
Your Fellow Bison & Nupe! Yo-Skee"
-snip-
"Bison" is the mascot for Howard University (Washington D.C.). "Nupe" is another referent for members of the historically Black Greek letter fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi Inc. "Yo Skee" is one way that a Kappa greets a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. That word was created by combining the first part of Kappa's signature call "Yo" with the first part of the AKA's signature call "Skee". Also, notice that the commenter represents his organization by replacing the "c" in the word "convinced" with the "k" which is the first letter in the word "Kappa".
**
27. Antranita Welsh, 2020
"I like how instead of throwing shade at the other sororities they thank them cant say it's like that now"
**
28. Cleola Bostic, 2020
"It's amazing to see how stepping has evolved over the years.
I've never seen an old school step show but my God this was wonderful. That was
my favorite song the ladies came out to in Part 1. It's good when Greek and
non-Greek organizations can work together like this. I belong to a black
business professional sorority called Eta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. here in DC."
**
29. Richie Hughes, 2020
"back in the days when us Greeks didn't have to use music to
stroll or step"
**
Reply
30. Linda Looney Bond, 2020
"Hi Richie. Thanks. You should check out Part 2. We performed
tributes to our Greek brothers in the second half. Here's a link to Part 2 :). https://youtu.be/bSq4dDbUsoc"
**
31. Eric Moore, 2020
"Is Kamala in this lineup?"
**
Reply
32. Linda Looney, 2020
"We are so proud of Soror Kamala!!! Kamala's line
(Spring 86) pledged our line (Spring 87). As the neophytes in '87, our line
performed in the Greek Show that year, and Kamala's line, along with other
sorors helped to prepare us for that performance"
-snip-
"Kamala" refers to Kamala Harris, the United States Vice President Elect.
****
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