Students rock Savage at Songfest

It was who's who of the music world as some of the world's top-billing acts, well re-creations of them, filled Savage Arena for a night of singing and dancing at Songfest 2009.

After months of practice and anticipation, students showed of their footwork and vocals on Saturday, as nearly 1200 students and community members filled Savage Arena for UT's second oldest tradition.

Categories were broken down into three divisions: men's, women's and co-ed, and top prizes went to Kappa Delta Sorority who did a Billy Joel tribute, Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity who performed a Styx medley and the University YMCA who performed classics by Frank Sinatra.

"It was an amazing feeling to win," said Benjamin Pohl, a member of Pi Kappa Alpha and director of the group's performance. "We worked really hard and we're definitely proud to have won first place."

Songfest began in 1937 and is one of UT's longest standing traditions. The event is also one of the campus's oldest philanthropic events and each year the Songfest committee chooses a different charity or cause to donate the night's proceeds to. This year's charity was Josina Lott, a non-profit organization that provides services to individuals with mental and developmental disabilities.

This year's theme was "Starstruck at Savage: The Rocket Revival Tour" and organizations paid tribute to past performers who have performed at UT. The teams were judged on their creative and overall showmanship and the judging panel was made up of UT professors and faculty. Judges included communication professor Richard Knecht, interim Dean of Students Michele Martinez and UT professor of music Raymond Marchionni.

The nearly five-hour event featured performances by 21 students organizations, special performances by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the Black Student Union, and special awards, including "Greek Man and Woman of the Year," "Undefeated Spirit Student Athletic Award" and "The Outstanding Student Leader Award" were presented to students. The event was organized by members of UT's Mortar Board National Honor Society and the Blue Key National Honor Society, and featured a Blue Key recognition and tapping and the Mortar Board Underclassman Award.

"Overall, I think the event went really well," said Adam Motycka, a junior majoring in accounting and one of the co-hosts and organizers of the event. "It started off a little rough and we had some problems with the sound and videos, but as the show went on it was really great. From this year to last year, the groups got better, and I think everyone liked it being back at Savage."

"There was a lot of competition which was really great," said Breanne Democko, a senior majoring in political science and one of the co-hosts and organizers of the event. "The groups were well prepared and there was a lot of talent."

Along with co-hosting the event, Democko, who is a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, received the "Greek Woman of the Year Award."

"It was amazing to win the award and I was very honored to receive an award like that."

Highlights included fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon's tribute to Boyz II Men, a Beach Boys medley by fraternity Alpha Sigma Pi, a tribute to The Monkees by the Catholic Student Association, a Hall & Oates medley by last year's champs, Delta Delta Delta Sorority and "Crazy, Sexy, Chi-O," a tribute to TLC by sorority Chi Omega.

Each team used minimal props and opened their performances with short video clips explaining why and how they chose their themes. According to Motycka, to give the event a historic feel, teams were not allowed to use soundtracks but were permitted to use a piano, drums and a guitar.

Although each performance lasted only five to 10 minutes, the majority of the teams began practicing months in advance. Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity began preparing for the event in January. To help them prepare for the competition, according to Pohl, the guys used a choreographer and took vocal lessons.

"It was very difficult getting our performance together, and it was really hard learning how to do the dance, and we had to work around people's schedules," said Pohl, a junior majoring in business sales and marketing. "We definitely had to do something bigger and better than everyone else and eye appeal was very important. We chose Styx because they're a classy rock band and their songs are well-known."

While Pohl said preparing for Songfest was a grueling process, he said the fraternity was honored to win first place and overall the experience brought the fraternity together.

"We were at each other's throats during a lot of the practices, but by the end of it, when everything started coming together we all had a sense of pride," he said. "People who weren't such good friends were hanging out by the end of process, and it actually brought a lot of people together."