- Aight y'all, y'all ready for the show?
(drumming)
- When you’re on the stage and you're giving it your all
and the show comes to an end
and you know that you've left everything on that stage.
That is the most rewarding feeling.
(powerful drumming music)
(audience cheering)
I am Byron Hannah.
The step master of the Sigmas here at North Carolina A&T.
To be the step master is to be that person
that creates the steps,
bring it back to the team
and teach everyone how to do these steps.
Stepping is a combination of clapping
and stomping in a particular rhythm.
It comes from Africa.
Stepping serves a huge role in historically black
Greek organizations.
And these organizations were founded in the early 1900s.
They were put together to make a more powerful
force in the community.
Stepping is something that fraternities and sororities
brought to the current day.
- [Announcer] Y'all ready for the grand show,
make some noise!
(audience cheering)
- Steps are always one of the main events at GHOE,
which stands for the Greatest Homecoming On Earth.
It brings in thousands and thousands of people.
We have been winning the step show for 11 years straight.
When fraternities and sororities go on the stage,
there is so much to lose.
Reputation, respect.
So the pressure for the Sigmas winning
11 consecutive years is crazy.
You know where you need to be.
You gotta come back, right.
As the step master, I serve as the coach.
The captain, team member.
All these things in one person.
The biggest pressure that is on my back
is maintaining that legacy.
To become a good stepper is very, very difficult.
It's something that you really gotta give
all your dedication to.
To stomp so loud, clap so loud
and scream so loud is an opportunity to let loose.
It's very, very therapeutic.
That's why we usually do the face.
It's a face of disgust.
And we do that to push out more energy
and push out more anger.
You are destroying your body on concrete pavement
day in and day out for four months.
On some nights, I walk away from the practice limping.
Sometimes we have the mentality that okay,
we already won 11 years in a row
so, you know, what's another year gonna do.
But one thing that we have to keep in mind
is that we can't lose.
(clapping)
(dramatic piano music)
So the night of the step show,
being backstage,
I feel like I'm ready for it.
And I feel like my team is ready for it.
A lot of older brothers come back there,
you know, giving encouraging words.
- Let's close this show out with excitement
and with a bang.
- When the timer's counting down,
I had to go run off into the corner
and actually had to cry.
Those tears weren't sadness.
Something that had to bring me back
to where I was and prepare me to go out on the stage.
- [Announcer] Welcome to the stage
Brothers of Phi Beta Sigma.
(uplifting piano music)
- I legit left everything that I had on that stage.
(clapping and stomping)
Push it guys, push it.
(audience cheering)
- My feet are on fire.
- We are waiting on the judges to calculate up the scores.
Just to know that the legacy is on the line right now.
- [Announcer] Alright, let's get to these winners.
(clapping)
First place, undefeated, Phi Beta Sigma!
- We won.
I'm proud of every single person
'cause it's been a long journey.
And now they're part of a legacy.