Students had to stand outside and watch from afar through glass windows as the Downing Student Union auditorium was filled to capacity for the 2013 WKU Yard Show.

Six fraternities and sororities performed in front of an enthusiastic crowd on Friday night. The Yard Show consisted of Greek organizations ‘stepping,’ a type of dance focused on rhythm-based body movements and patterns, and skits that informed the audience about the respective organizations.

All of the Greek organizations that participated are members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, which governs all the historically black sororities and fraternities on campus.

Louisville senior Whitney Reed, a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, said a lot of work went into the Yard Show.

“It’s basically like a mini step show,” Reed said. “So a lot of the practices are very intense.”

Reed said the Yard Show was primarily aimed at freshman in order to get them involved with Greek Organizations.

Louisville senior Joshua Nelson, president of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, said this yard show was bigger than last year’s yard show. He said his fraternity poured hours into practicing for their performance.

“We practiced for three weeks,” Nelson said.

The Yard Show was delayed for 15 minutes due to seating issues. During the delay, the Greek organizations participated in a “stroll,” which is an organized line dance.

After the delay, the lights faded and a spotlight was focused on the stage, which elicited an uproar from the spectators. 

The audience did not merely watch the event. As the Greek Organizations performed, the audience yelled out encouraging cheers and hoots. They even sung along to some of the songs being played, songs like “Holy Grail” by Jay-Z and “Suit & Tie” by Justin Timberlake.

The Greek Organizations stepped to a variety of music from different genres and time periods.

Louisville freshman Charles Buckner said despite some performances he was not happy with, he was satisfied overall.

“It was very entertaining to watch,” Buckner said.

Akron, Ohio junior Devantre’ Chatman, a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, said he was happy with the way event turned out.

“I think that we did pretty good,” Chatman said.