Last year, the National Pan-Hellenic Council step show was canceled due to “logistical issues,” but this year they’re bringing it back to the basics.

The show will be held in Diddle Arena on Saturday, Oct. 26. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the show will start at 7 p.m. Tickets for the step show are available at the WKU Bookstore.

Louisville senior Kelly Mandela, NPHC vice president, said the NPHC step show is a tradition. It’s for that reason the show’s theme this year is Back to the Basics: Tradition at its Best.

“We’re trying to get back to our original ways,” she said.

Mandela said the theme was chosen at a committee meeting over the summer. They put ideas together to find something that would “best fit [the] campus.”

She said so far, the process of the step show is going well.

“We have some really good performers that are performing and everybody has just been working really hard on promotion and trying to let the community know there is a step show,” she said.

Louisville senior Joshua Nelson is one of the steppers. This will be his first time stepping at the show and he said he’s a little nervous.

“I’m just taking it a day at a time,” he said.

Nelson said students can expect the step show to be bigger and better this year.

“We expect a big turn out since there wasn’t one last year,” he said.

Nelson said they have been practicing for the step show since the summer.

“I encourage everyone to come out and watch us put in work,” he said. “It’s going to be an experience.”

Mandela said the preparation for the show has been very hectic.

“As the step show gets closer, things get a little harder between people’s schedules and trying to make sure everything is perfect for step show,” she said.

Mandela said her role is to oversee the committee and if they have any questions or concerns, they bring them to her.

Dayton, Ohio junior Mari Coleman is a part of the Delta Sigma Theta incorporated step show committee. She said preparation for the show takes a lot of hard work and patience.

“The committee makes sure that the steppers don’t have to worry about anything but stepping because they have a lot going on,” she said. “We want everything to run smoothly.”

Coleman said the committee makes sure that costumes, videos, editing, background and more are up to par for the show.

She said the step show will be better this year.

“They can perfect what they had for step show last year,” Coleman said.

Mandela said seven out of the nine NPHC organizations on campus will be represented at the step show, and that will bring something new to the step show.

“I know at other step shows, not all organizations were represented and they thought that only those organizations were the only organizations on this campus,” she said. “That’s definitely not true and some people didn’t go to the yard show, so they don’t really know how this organization is.”

Mandela said they’re bringing something new to step show this year. The organizations will have tables set up to help promote the organizations and philanthropies they sponsor.

Mandela said the best part about the preparation for step show is the unity.

“We’ve all done things together and set our letter aside and just got down to business basically,” she said. “We have step show meetings and when everyone comes to step show meetings, we don’t just think about what’s best for our organization, even though that’s part of it. We also think about what’s going to make this step show different than the last.”

Mandela said she hopes everyone comes out to the show.

“I really want them to enjoy the show because at the end of the day, it is just a show,” she said. “And to know that even though we’re all separate organizations we all come together, and that’s to serve the community.”