‘Until it looks good’: Shenanigans chair details performance process

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Madihah Abri / Herald Archives

WKU’s Omega Phi Alpha sorority sisters dance to a choreographed American tribute during the 25th annual Shenanigans event.

Izzy Lanuza, News reporter

Every year, Greek Life organizations at WKU pair up for “Shenanigans” to tell a story through song and dance to raise money for Kappa Delta’s philanthropy, Prevent Child Abuse America.

But what exactly goes into each year’s performances? 

Shenanigans is a five-week long process. This includes tryouts, creating the choreography, finding the songs and practicing for the big day. 

“In regards to the chair’s position, it’s probably over 100 hours of work,” Madi Weis, Alpha Omicron Pi’s Shenanigans chair, said. “If you’re not the chair, [it’s] probably still like 50 hours.”

Weis said Alpha Omicron Pi normally holds Shenanigans practices Sundays through Wednesdays.

“Starting at 8 p.m. until it can be two in the morning – could be three, could be one in the morning – until it looks good,” Weis said.

A sorority and fraternity work together to create a dance performance based off of a specific theme. Kappa Delta chose the overall theme of “Welcome to the Big Leagues” for this year’s Shenanigans. 

Alpha Omicron Pi paired up with Phi Delta Theta for this year’s event, an intriguing pairing as AOII has won the past two Shenanigans and Phi Delta Theta completed a three-peat before those wins.

Each pairing must interpret the theme in its own way and retell a story surrounding their interpretation. Some themes from this year’s pairings include “She’s The Man”, “Legally Blonde” and “High School Musical.” 

Weis said AOII decided to go with the “Legally Blonde” theme because it was “different and creative.” After picking the theme, Weis and co-chair Annabelle Botts watched the movie and chose the scenes that they wanted to use for their storyline. Next, they chose songs that they believed would match up to the story and would fit the seven-to-nine minutes allowed for their performance. 

Lastly, they created the choreography – not an easy feat, especially in a time crunch.

“Sometimes it was like an hour before practice and we’d be cramming all this choreography in our brains, we just kind of bounce back-and-forth or ideas off of each other until we like [it],” Weis said.

Kappa Delta’s Shenanigans will be hosted at SKYPAC on Monday, Oct. 10 at 6:30 pm. There will be nine performances done by the Greek pairings and one halftime performance put on by Kappa Delta.

News reporter Izzy Lanuza can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @izzylanuza.