Hours of practice, crafting and more practice for one, five-minute performance. Twelve organizations gave it their all for Alpha Gamma Delta’s 24th annual Lip Jam last Friday in front of an audience of 1,600.
Each organization chose a popular hollywood movie to portray musically using new and old songs and voice-overs to tell the story of the movie they had chosen.
They were judged on how well they portrayed the film, their lip syncing ability, the choreography and the overall performance.
The night began with the new initiates of Alpha Gamma Delta taking the audience to 1985 with “Back To The Future.” Wearing scrunchies and off the shoulder shirts, these girls danced their hearts out with characters portraying Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett Brown. Using songs by Beyonce, Fergie, and Elvis to portray the film, the audience was tapping their feet along to the music.
Next on stage was Alpha Xi Delta, doing their rendition of “The Wizard of Oz.” They told the story of Dorothy waking up in Oz and meeting the lion, tinman and scarecrow on her way to find the Wizard of Oz to take her home.
Girls were dressed up as the yellow brick road, the people of oz and the main characters which brought back the true spirit of this classic tale.
After was Alpha Psi’s performanceof “The Titanic,” which won them the superlative award for best comedic relief.
With some performers wearing dresses and tuxedos, one member dressed as the Titanic and the other as an iceberg, they had the audience laughing the entire dance.
Kappa Delta Zeta was up next with their lip sync to “Forest Gump.” With voice overs from the actual movie and both old and current songs, they told the love story between Forest and Jenny as portrayed in the film.
The ladies of Phi Sigma Sigma were up next, and they did their rendition of “Mary Poppins.” They had the crowd in awe of their dance skills and portrayal of the film while having girls playing Michael, Jane and Mary to give the audience a true feel for the movie.
For the first time in Lip Jam history, the Blue Baronz came on stage, winning them the superlative award of most entertaining for their performance of “West Side Story.” They didn’t need crazy outfits or voice overs to win over the audience, their choreography alone captured the audience.
The audience then took a quick trip to Hogwarts as Alpha Delta Pi was up next dancing and lip syncing to “Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Characters inclued Harry, Dumbledore, Hermonie and Ron to give the audience a close portrayal of the film, while including popular songs like “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry and “Our House” by Flo Rida.
Afer an intermission, Last years’ winners Gamma Phi Beta took the stage, performing “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” winning them the superlative award of best portrayal of an original film, they also won the People’s Choice award, which meant they donated the most money to the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation and got a $150 check to their philanthropy.
Phi Delta Theta made a dramtic entrance, entering the stage in all black tuxedo’s doing their rendition of the 1972 film “The Godfather.”
“We had such a blast choreographing and dancing on stage,” said Sam Gad, Phi Delta Theta’s lip jam delegate. “Lip Jam is such a fun event and it makes you feel so good knowing that you are doing it for such a good cause.”
Next was Alpha Omicron Pi performing their dance to “Annie,” using voice-overs, and both new and old versions of the classic song, “It’s a Hard Knock Life.” With all the members of the orphanage, Daddy Warbucks, Miss Hannigan and Annie on stage, this broadway classic made the audience reminince and cheer.
The members of Lambda Kappa Pi did a rendition of the film “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The pirate costumes kept the audience entranced as they danced with swords in hand.
Tau Kappa Epsilon took the stage right after, portraying the 1981 film “Indiana Jones.” They had the audience laughing the whole time, as they used homemade voice-overs and had members dressed up as snakes, rocks, Indy and Marion.
Closing the show out was the Alpha Gamma Delta seniors as they had Danny and Sandy on stage to portray “Grease.” With their ending song “We Go Together,” the nastaliga on graduating hit the seniors and the audience. They all danced for one last time before they graduated, with the pink ladies and the t-birds making an ode to the classic hit.
Participants waited anxiously outside the Green Music Center to find out who won.
In third place was Phi Sigma Sigma, second place went to Alpha Xi Delta, and first place was Alpha Delta Pi.
“There was months of preparation that went into planning this event, and it’s such a great feeling to see how successful it went. In just ticket sales alone, we made over $23,000 dollars,” said Lip Jam Coordinator Alex Leininger. “All of our money we makes goes to the Alpha Gamma Delta foundation which supports Diabetes Education and Awareness, and it’s such an amazing feeling knowing that all of our hard work paid off and we get to give all this money to such a great cause.”
The Alpha Gamma Delta foundation gives grants, donations and assistance with the payment of diabetes related medical bills. It also helps fund leadership conferences, scholarships and grants to better the education of women.
“It’s so nice knowing that when you’re buying a ticket, that money your spending is going to something so much more than me just seeing a show,” said Theresa Lehr, mother of an Alpha Gamma Delta senior. “Getting the opportunity to watch my daughter dance on stage and see all the hard work her chapter put into this event makes me so proud.”
Last year, Alpha Gamma Delta was able to raise over $40,000 for their philanthropy, and has raised over $100,000 in the last three years.
Audrey Altman is a member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.
