Delta Gamma and Kappa Sigma win IU Sing

Hundreds of screaming students, dressed up as everything from fish to cowboys to monkeys, lit up the IU Auditorium this weekend in the 2001 IU Sing competition. \nDelta Gamma sorority and Kappa Sigma fraternity received the overall award for their routine entitled, "Off the Hook." IU Sing is sponsored by the IU Student Foundation, and 23 groups participated in this year's performance.\nJunior David Gerber, one of Kappa Sigma's songleaders, said the hard work of the past months paid off with their performance.\n"We've been planning it since October or September," Gerber said. "We've been practicing since we came back from winter break, for two hours a night. Everybody just worked really hard."\nTheir skit centered around a fish who had to sacrifice his life and be caught by a fisherman to save the rest of his school. Gerber, along with sophomore David Cain, sophomore Nicole Tovey and sophomore Pamela Klein were songleaders for the group.\nGroups took existing songs and made up lyrics to fit their themes, or sometimes they just made up entire songs. The participants then put these lyrics to creative dances associated with their themes. \nThe winning group used songs from "Beauty and the Beast," "A Chorus Line" and "Jekyll and Hyde," as well as the song "Brown-Eyed Girl" and put their own words to these songs. They changed "Brown-Eyed Girl" to "Brown-Eyed Gill" to match their underwater theme. The group also wrote a song called "Hook" themselves.\nDelta Gamma and Kappa Sigma were also the winners in Division A, which included groups of 63 or more participants. The sorority Alpha Delta Pi and fraternity Alpha Sigma Phi were the winners in Division B, which included groups of 62 or fewer participants.\nJamie Jo Bowling, a junior and songleader of ADPi, said she was thrilled with her house's and their pair's performance.\n"I've always been involved with show choir and dancing, and I figured this would be the perfect way to do something with my house and to go along with something I love to do," Bowling said. "I was completely overwhelmed with how wonderful they did. I could not have been more happy."\nThe 2001 steering committee, comprised of five members who tackle everything from marketing and songleader-producer coordination to emcee liaison, ran this year's IU Sing. Senior Eric Gant, one of the steering committee members, is in his fifth IU Sing production.\n"We all have at least four years history, in my case five," Gant said. "It's something that is really important to us. The experience of the whole show is something special for the five of us."\nGant also said the Delta Gamma and Kappa Sigma team consistently showed dedication to the program. IUSF gives out songleader scholarships to a select few songleaders each year, and all of Delta Gamma's and Kappa Sigma's won one. Gant said this showed their commitment.\n"It was obvious from the start that all four of them had the enthusiasm and passion we were looking for," Gant said.\nBut the songleaders attributed their success to the hard work of their skit participants.\n"I just don't think we could have asked for a more talented cast," Gerber said. "We really won because of them"