Greeks to dance through the decades in variety show

Fraternities and sororities will team up Saturday to put on song and dance routines at the 58th annual Theta Xi Variety Show at Shryock Auditorium. The show begins at 3 p.m. and is sponsored by the Inter-Greek Council. While teams will compete for awards, the main emphasis is on having a good time, said Lauren Hesseldiek, the show's director.

"It's for fun and a trophy, pretty much," said Hesseldiek, a junior from St. Peters, Mo., studying accounting and finance. Hesseldiek picked "Dancing through the Decades" as this year's theme because the variety show attracts parents and alumni.

"I just thought it would be neat," Hesseldiek said. "Parents are going to remember things from the '50s and '60s. Parents can reminisce." Decades were determined by a drawing from a hat. The Alpha Gamma Delta sorority drew the '50s. The team's choreographer, Jennifer Marston, a sophomore from Collinsville studying marketing, said her house wanted the '50s so it could act out scenes from the movie Grease. Marston said running a smooth act will be of utmost importance.

"In the greek system, this is really competitive," Marston said. "It's a big deal to us because we put so much time into it." During the week leading up to the show, Alpha Gamma Delta has been practicing more than four hours a night. The women stayed up late to finish homework, practiced on Sundays and in one instance suffered bodily harm.

"I was at the chiropractor this morning," said Danelle DeSmith, a freshman from Atkinson studying marketing. At one practice DeSmith and Lesa Amacher, a junior from Farmer City studying public relations, were accidentally dropped on their necks just five minutes apart.

"We joke about it; it's funny now," DeSmith said. "It was all innocent. Now that we know how to do everything, nobody gets hurt." Alpha Gamma Delta's partner is Theta Xi. The fraternity originally started the show, but its members haven't participated in 13 years. Theta Xi member Tony Coconate, a senior from Woodstock studying computer science, said this year means a lot to his fraternity.

"It's the first year we've done it in a really long time, so we're being real competitive," Coconate said. Coconate said he has been practicing four to five hours a night for the last three weeks. However, Coconate said the team has adopted a philosophy to ease pain brought on by long practices and falling onto necks.

"Pain is only temporary, but the trophy will last forever," Coconate said. New to the show this year is a silent auction. The auction will take place before and during the show on Shryock's balcony, and winners will be announced during intermission. Items include tickets to St. Louis Cardinal baseball games, keyless car entry, tanning salon gift certificates, gift baskets containing gourmet food and gift certificates to True Value Hardware.

"What we're trying to do with the silent auction is get more money so we can hold more events like Theta Xi," said Inter-Greek Council President Julie Hoscheidt, a junior from Aledo studying advertising. "Theta Xi costs thousands and thousands of dollars every year." Tickets to the show are $11 and can be bought at the Student Center, the SIU Arena, Shryock Auditorium or online at www.ticketmaster.com.