Cool Geeks, Treadmills, & Wallpaper

A week and a half ago, a co-instructor from last summer's MEET program called me for a favor. She's the resident advisor at MIT's Sigma Nu fraternity which was entering an act for the annual Lip Sync competition. They needed some more girls for one of their dance routines and wondered if I could help out. After a handful of probing questions, I figured it would be fun doing the swing dancing bit and trying to pass myself off as a college coed. So I agreed to do it.

I didn't realize how elaborate the Lip Sync act was until my first night of practice at the fraternity house. (Which happens to be the old Fiji house, for my oh-so-many former frat party mates out there.) One end of their enormous second-floor ballroom was filled with two rows of treadmills which they bought for the show! The act that they had produced was a recreation of a trio of OK Go videos:

1. A Million Ways. Geeky cool slick moves. The ΣΝ guy who played the singer even shaved his head on the day of the show for authenticity.
   
2. Here It Goes Again. Yes, with eight running treadmills!
   
3. The wallpaper version of Do What You Want. There isn't much dancing in the video, so for the act some folks choreographed a swing dance routine for 3 pairs of couples (which I was in). Then they applied the wallpaper idea by silk screening a backdrop and the couples' costumes with the same black-and-white ornate pattern. The effect on stage was super cool, and it looked like heads and arms were floating around in front of the wallpaper.

Turns out ΣΝ has a recent tradition of winning the Lip Sync contest with their unforgettable biennial entries. Previous victorious acts had the themes Smooth Criminal and Pulp Fiction. This year's act was undoubtedly another worthy production.

After weeks of brainstorming, planning, and practicing (though I only joined for the last half-a-dozen rehearsals), we performed our dance number at the Lip Sync this past weekend. Many of us tried to calm our nerves as we waited in the wings of the big stage at Kresge Auditorium. But soon after the music started and the lights went up for the first part of the act, the crowd went crazy! They screamed again when the treadmills were revealed, the guys leaped through them, the wallpaper backdrop went up, the backflipper and hula hooper stuntpeople appeared, and many other moments in between. The continued cheering sustained us dancers and stage hands through all three mini routines and the finale which featured all three groups dancing simultaneously. Our act was hilarious, well-executed, and a unique change from the numerous hip hop and pop acts of the night (though many were good). At the end of the evening, ΣΝ was victorious again, and we were awarded with the Best Act of the show!

Here is our winning performance. The audio and lighting aren't ideal, but you get a glimpse of the triumphant spectacle of that evening.